Pakistan's jailed ex-PM Imran Khan has written to the UN, warning that if implemented, the expected reforms in the Constitution would undermine judicial independence and human rights in the country, media reports said on Tuesday.
According to The News newspaper and Geo News channel, the former prime minister filed an appeal to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers Margaret Satterthwaite through Edward Fitzgerald KC and Tatyana Eatwell and Jennifer Robinsonboth of whom have been instructed by Khan's family to conduct UN engagement and international advocacy on his behalf.
The plea sent to the UN official argues that he is alarmed at the prospective 26th constitutional amendment, as this legislation seriously threatens the rule of law and protection of the fundamental rights of the people of Pakistan, including him and his supporters.
The appeal has further made a request for the special rapporteur of the UN to immediately issue an urgent communication on the issue to Islamabad.
If the constitutional amendment is to be passed, a significant implication thereof would be made on Khan's capability to defend cases filed against him, including that by the government alleging plans to try him in a military court. This will further be damaging independence of the judiciary, separation of powers, and human rights and civil liberties in the country.
Meanwhile, Khan's counsel Fitzgerald KC, Eatwell, and Robinson have argued that the constitutional changes were, in fact, designed to achieve an effect on the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, which would set permanent impunity for rights violations ongoing at present in this country.
The proposed amendments are brazenly aimed at stripping the SC of its jurisdiction and powers, with the judiciary in Pakistan already being under threat [and] judges even threatened and coerced to deliver prescribed verdicts in controversial cases, the lawyers declared while complaining of a "rapid descent in the rule of law" and the plethora of cases they claimed Khan, his party members, and supporters face.
Perhaps, the letter is a desperate attempt by the founder of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf to stop the constitutional package as President Asif Ali Zardari and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief Nawaz Sharif met Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Tuesday in an effort to seek his support for the legislation for which the ruling coalition is short by 13 and nine votes in the National Assembly and Senate respectively.
The meeting came after last week PML-N Senator Irfan Siddiqui said that the government had trimmed the amendments in line with Rahman's demands.
This is not the first time the imprisoned ex-prime minister wrote to an international organization about his country's internal political affairs. In the past, he had communicated with the International Monetary Fund, asking it to conduct an audit of the February 8 polls, which had been dogged by rigging allegations, before giving any new loan to Islamabad.
The move has invited an outright reaction from the coalition government, with ministers censuring the cricketer-turned-politician of risking the country's economic stability for political interests.
The prospective constitutional changes being discussed, among others, include judges' retirement age extension and establishment of a constitutional court and have been strongly opposed by Khan and his party.
According to The News, the constitutional package that was expected to be introduced last month is on the backburner because the government failed to garner the necessary numbers in the parliament owing to the special nature of the legislation which requires the approval of a two-thirds majority in both houses.
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