Islamabad, April 09: Pakistan’s National Assembly Thursday passed by two-thirds majority a package of landmark amendments aimed at stripping President Asif Ali Zardari of his sweeping powers and removing changes made to the constitution by former military dictators.
Amid the shouting of slogans against former dictators Zia-ul-Haq and Pervez Musharraf, the members of the lower house of parliament approved 102 amendments, including several that will transfer powers from the office of the President to the Prime Minister.
A total of 292 lawmakers of the 342-member National Assembly voted in favour of the bill, ensuring that it was cleared by a two-thirds majority.
A total of 228 votes were required for the passage of the amendments.
No member opposed the bill but several abstained from the voting.
“The impossible has been made possible by the house today,” Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told the House after it voted in favour of the 18th amendment.
“We will now be answerable to both the national assembly and the senate,” he said.
The 18th constitutional amendment bill declared as illegal all measures taken by former President Musharraf, who took power in a bloodless coup in 1999 after dismissing the elected government of then premier Nawaz Sharif.
When an amendment to delete an article related to the emergency imposed by Musharraf in 2007 was passed, several lawmakers were heard shouting slogans calling for him to be hanged.
The bill also removed the name of Zia-ul-Haq from the constitution, a measure that was welcomed by lawmakers with the thumping of desks.
Amendments that repealed the 17th constitutional amendment and Article 58 (2b) take away the President’s power to dissolve the parliament, dismiss an elected government and appoint the three service chiefs.
Another amendment renamed the North West Frontier Province as Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa, fulfilling a long-standing demand of Pashtun nationalists.
Lawmakers from former premier Sharif’s PML-N party and PML-Q did not support the clause for renaming the NWFP.
The bar on a person serving as Prime Minister for a third term was also lifted by an amendment.
Ninety-six of the 102 amendments were passed by consensus while lawmakers expressed differences on six changes.
—Agencies