Our Knight in Shining Armor: 26th Constitutional Amendment & Maulana Fazlur Rehman

Since there has already been a lot written on the 26th Constitutional Amendment and how destructive it would be to our constitutional and judicial systems, let's start with a brief introduction of Maulana, our knight in shining armor. This introduction is important for two reasons: firstly, because a vast majority of the author's connections are either fresh law graduates or law students who may not be familiar with Maulana's political career; secondly, because this introduction is pertinent to give a proper context to this article and its title.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman is a prominent Pakistani politician and the leader of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) party, a key figure in the political landscape of Pakistan for decades. Born in 1953 in Dera Ismail Khan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, he succeeded his father, Mufti Mahmud, a respected religious scholar and politician, as the head of the JUI. Fazlur Rehman is known for his deep connections with religious groups and madrassas, advocating for the implementation of Islamic law in Pakistan.

Throughout his career, Fazlur Rehman has garnered a reputation for political pragmatism, often aligning himself with the ruling parties, regardless of their ideological stance, to secure positions of influence. His ability to navigate shifting political landscapes has enabled him to maintain relevance and power, even as governments change.

For instance, under General Pervez Musharraf's regime in the early 2000s, Rehman’s JUI-F formed part of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), an alliance of religious parties that played a key role in Musharraf’s government. Later, during the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) government from 2008 to 2013, Fazlur Rehman positioned himself as a strategic partner by aligning with the PPP.

Similarly, after the 2013 elections, he aligned with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) during Nawaz Sharif's third term as Prime Minister. Despite his opposition to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Rehman has shown a pattern of aligning with winning coalitions to secure political leverage. His ability to remain close to the corridors of power has led critics to accuse him of political opportunism, prioritizing influence over ideological consistency.

However, Rehman views his political maneuvering as necessary for advancing the interests of his party and constituency. His long-standing presence in the political arena speaks to his adaptability and the respect he commands, particularly among religious and conservative voters.

In recent years, he has been a vocal opponent of Imran Khan’s PTI government, leading the "Azadi March" in 2019, calling for Khan’s resignation. Despite his opposition, Fazlur Rehman's strategic alliances continue to reflect his desire to remain a key player in Pakistan's political system.

In fact, the political rivalry between the PTI and JUI leaders got to a point that chants of "Diesel, Diesel, Diesel" became a regular part of PTI jalsas, and Imran Khan openly laughing and repeating the disrespecting title for Maulana. Similarly, JUI members, including Maulana, had been regularly referring to the PTI leader as a Yahoodi Agent (Jew Agent). Therefore, it would be a fallacy to assume that Maulana is now assisting PTI in its crusade against the 26th Constitutional Amendment, or PTI finally sees Maulana as their ally. Then what is it that has made Maulana take the stance that he has taken?

The coalition government of, inter alia, PML(N) and PPP need the magic numbers of 224 and 64 in the National Assembly and Senate respectively to pass the 26th Constitutional Amendment. The Amendments which are to make the current Supreme Court toothless and to establish a new Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) with the Executive having the power to appoint its first Chief Justice (which, as per my wild guess, will have to be Justice Qazi Faiz Isa).

But the coalition government, and by extension the powers that be, were initially way short of the magic numbers only because Maulana stood in their way. Later, to do away with Maulana's support the Article 63A review petition was suddenly fixed and, no surprise, Supreme Court, with Justice Isa presiding, overturned its earlier decision to the effect that now the defectors' votes will be counted while disqualification procedure can still be commenced by their party. While in principle this was a good decision, the timing thereof strongly suggested that it had to do with the government requiring votes of PTI MNAs, against their party's directions, by hook or by crook.

Keeping in view Maulana's history and chances of government passing the 26th Constitutional Amendment being very high after the 63A review judgment, one would have thought that Maulana's support would now tilt in favor of the coalition government, but to government's surprise it did not happen. In fact, on 14th of October 2024, Maulana while attending the Mufti Mahmood Conference, in honor of his late father, at Mir Pur Khas, Sindh, made the following bold statements:

"They said give us vote... I said what should I vote for... at least give me some details. Where is the amendments' draft? They did not have the draft and wanted the amendments. You would not see [something like this] anywhere in the world that they did not even have a draft. And when we put pressure on them, they brought a black draft out of a black bag in the middle of the night. And when we took it out and gave it a reading it was destroying the Constitution, destroying your human rights, negativing the fundamental rights of the people of Pakistan, destroying the Armed forces, destroying the justice, destroying the people. And the next day we firmly told them that we do not accept this draft and outrightly reject it... Alhamdullilah they could not pass it."

Maulana went on to say:

"Yesterday Establishment manipulated elections and then they [government] say don't blame us, we did not do any irregularity. I said I had entered politics with black beard and now it is completely white, I have seen all these tricks before..."

[P.S. This is my own translation and may have minor errors]

Now, these are serious statements especially in context of the occasion and considering that all the first tier leaders of JUI were standing beside Maulana while he made them. Whatever, the motives of Maulana behind this stance (some allege it is the surge in JUI's support in KPK that he has seen since he has opposed the amendments which has encouraged Maulana to stick to it), one must acknowledge and appreciate that even after the 63A review judgment, it is Maulana who has been the major hurdle against the passing of 26th Constitutional Amendment.

Today, 15th of October, on the commencement of SCO Summit 2024 in Islamabad, leaves government with only 10 days to make another attempt to have these amendments passed, i.e., before the retirement of Justice Isa, the most favorite candidate to head the proposed FCC. And we will know about the constitutional and judicial fate of this poor country by the Halloween (actually we will know it by 25th of October but Halloween just sounded more surreal). Whether the government is able to pass these amendments or not, whatever the case may be, when the historians write about these amendments they will not be able to ignore our knight in shining armor, Maulana Fazlur Rehman as the defender of the basic structure of our Constitution and democracy in its true sense.