ISLAMABAD: Chinese President Xi Jinping wished Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on the occasion of his 73rd birthday, expressing his desire to promote cooperation with Pakistan in various fields and saying that strengthening ties between the two nations is of “utmost importance” to him. 

This was said by the Chinese president in a letter that he addressed to the Pakistani prime minister, Sharif’s office said in a statement. It described the Chinese president’s letter as an “unusual progress” in Pakistan’s diplomatic relations with its neighboring country. 

China is a major ally and investor in Pakistan that has pledged over $65 billion in investment in road, infrastructure and development projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project. CPEC is a part of the Belt and Road Initiative, a massive China-led infrastructure project that aims to stretch around the globe. 

Chinese investment and financial support since 2013 have been key for Pakistan’s struggling economy, including the rolling over of loans so that Islamabad is able to meet external financing needs at a time its foreign reserves are low.

“Strengthening of China-Pakistan ties are of the utmost importance to me,” Jinping wrote, according to the PMO. “I want to work with you to promote China-Pakistan strategic cooperation and construction of CPEC.”

He described Pakistan and China as strategic partners of good and challenging times, adding that history was a witness that the two nations have always trusted and supported each other. 

“Such a strong relationship has been established between the two countries that it has never been affected by the changing international scenario,” he wrote.

The Chinese president also expressed his desire to promote cooperation with Pakistan in various fields and enhance people-to-people contacts, the PMO said. 

Though time-tested allies, recent security challenges have put a slight strain on Pakistan’s ties with China. Separatist and religiously motivated militants have attacked Chinese projects in Pakistan over recent years, killing Chinese personnel. In the most high-profile recent attack, five Chinese workers were killed in a suicide bombing in March, which was the third major attack on Chinese interests in Pakistan in a week.

China has called on Islamabad to ensure security for its citizens in Pakistan. The South Asian nation has in turn sought to ease Chinese fears, vowing to provide fool-proof security to its citizens living and working in the country. 

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s ruling coalition will table the controversial constitutional amendments package in parliament for approval in the first week of October, the government’s legal adviser Barrister Aqeel Malik has confirmed, adding that the document will be presented after a “broader consensus” is reached between political stakeholders and the country’s legal fraternity. 

Pakistan’s government was unable to present a set of history-making constitutional amendments last Monday after failing to secure the required two-thirds majority needed for them to pass. The proposed amendments are expected to establish a federal constitutional court, raise the retirement age of superior judges by three years and modify the process for the appointment of chief justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

The matter has raised widespread concerns among opposition parties and independent experts who say the moves are aimed at increasing the government’s power in making key judicial appointments and dealing with the defection of lawmakers during house votes. The opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has alleged that the amendments are an attempt to grant an extension to incumbent Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa, who is widely viewed to be aligned with the ruling coalition and in opposition to its chief rival, the PTI. Pakistan’s defense minister has rejected the allegations, saying that the amendments address “constitutional imbalances,” adding that public representatives have the right to undo any “intrusions” into parliamentary powers and the constitution.

Malik, adviser to the Ministry of Law and Justice, told Dawn News on Sunday night that the government will present the amendments during the “beginning of October” after it receives feedback from the Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam Pakistan-Fazl (JUI-F) party and Pakistan’s legal fraternity. 

“I think it is expected that we will lay [constitutional amendments in parliament] in the beginning of October,” Malik said. “After reaching a broader consensus with opposition and other stakeholders. In the first week of October.”

Aqeel said that out of the 55 amendments proposed, the government has withdrawn amendments to Article 8 (laws inconsistent with or in derogation of fundamental rights to be void) and Article 243 (command of Armed Forces). 

He said amendments to Article 243 had been “put on the back burner,” saying that it revolved around the tenures for service chiefs in the country. 

RESERVED SEATS

The government has proposed these amendments after a string of Supreme Court judgments that have ostensibly challenged Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s coalition government, mostly notably a July 12 verdict by a 13-member bench of the Supreme Court that declared the PTI eligible for reserved parliamentary seats.

The verdict dealt a major blow to Sharif’s weak ruling coalition, which may lose its two-thirds majority in Pakistan’s parliament if the verdict is implemented. Sharif’s PML-N party has filed a review petition in the Supreme Court against the verdict.

PTI candidates contested the Feb. 8 general elections as independents after the party was barred from polls on the technical grounds that it did not hold genuine intra-party polls, which is a legal requirement.

Subsequently, the PTI-backed candidates won the most seats in the election, but the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) ruled independents were ineligible for their share of 70 reserved seats — 60 for women, 10 for non-Muslims. The reserved seats were then distributed among other parties, mostly those in the ruling coalition, a decision Khan allies contested in the court.

Reserved parliamentary seats for women and minorities are allocated in Pakistan in proportion to the number of seats a political party wins in general elections. This completes the National Assembly’s total 336 seats.

A simple majority in Pakistan’s parliament is 169 seats.