ISLAMABAD: In a surprising move, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Athar Minallah resigned as judges of the Supreme Court after the 27th Constitutional Amendment was signed into law by President Asif Ali Zardari.
Both judges on Thursday sent their resignations to the President of Pakistan under Article 206 of the Constitution.
In his five-page letter, the senior puisne judge wrote, “The Twenty-Seventh Constitutional Amendment stands as a grave assault on the Constitution of Pakistan. It dismantles the Supreme Court of Pakistan, subjugates the judiciary to executive control, and strikes at the very heart of our constitutional democracy- making justice more distant, more fragile, and more vulnerable to power.”
“By fracturing the unity of the nation’s apex court, it has crippled judicial independence and integrity, pushing the country back by decades. As history bears witness, such a disfigurement of the constitutional order is unsustainable and will, in time, be reversed - but not before leaving deep institutional scars.
“At this critical juncture, only two courses are open to me as a Judge of this Court: either to remain within an arrangement that undermines the very foundation of the institution one has sworn to protect, or to step aside in protest against its subjugation. Staying on would not only amount to silent acquiescence in a constitutional wrong, but would also mean continuing to sit in a court whose constitutional voice has been muted.
He stated that, unlike the Twenty-Sixth Amendment, when the Supreme Court of Pakistan retained the jurisdiction to examine and answer the constitutional questions, the present amendment has stripped this Court of that fundamental and critical jurisdiction and authority. “Serving in such a truncated and diminished court, I cannot protect the Constitution, nor can I even judicially examine the amendment that has disfigured it.”
“I am unable to uphold my oath sitting inside a court that has been deprived of its constitutional role; resignation therefore becomes the only honest and effective expression of honouring my oath. Continuing in such a version of the Supreme Court of Pakistan would only suggest that I bartered my oath for titles, salaries, or privileges.”
He further wrote that the 27thConstitutional Amendment was enacted by a government - and endorsed by the current leadership of the Supreme Court - while their own legitimacy remained under serious constitutional challenge.
At a moment when the dignity and independence of the Court demanded principled resistance, the incumbent Chief Justice offered none. Instead of defending the institution he was entrusted to lead, he assented to the amendment and negotiated only the preservation of his own position and title, even as the Court’s constitutional stature was being dismantled.
When the head of the judiciary chooses personal continuity over institutional integrity - especially while his own legitimacy is under judicial scrutiny - the result is not leadership, but abdication. Until those legitimacy questions were transparently and conclusively resolved, neither the government nor the present judicial leadership had any moral or constitutional authority to recast the judicial architecture of the State. Yet they proceeded to do exactly that, disfiguring the structure of justice and striking at the heart of Pakistan’s constitutional balance.
The 27th Amendment divided the Supreme Court of Pakistan and created a new Federal Constitutional Court above it - an arrangement entirely alien to the common-law world. This amendment has no constitutional logic, no legal necessity, and no jurisprudential foundation. It was enacted without debate, without consultation, without seeking the considered input of the judiciary it seeks to remake.
The Twenty-Sixth Constitutional Amendment, passed in October 2024, marked the first step in a deliberate campaign to erode judicial independence. Yet at that moment, there remained a sliver of hope - that the Supreme Court of Pakistan would, as a Full Court, rise to examine the amendment and reclaim its constitutional role. I chose to stay then, trusting that institutional reason and constitutional morality would prevail.
The hope that once sustained many within the institution has now been extinguished. The light of judicial independence has not faded by accident - it has been dimmed by design.
In his resignation letter, Justice Athar Minallah wrote, “The Constitution that I swore an oath to uphold and defend is no more. Much as I have tried to convince myself otherwise, I can think of no greater assault on its memory than to pretend that, as new foundations are now laid, they rest upon anything other than its grave. For what is left of it is a mere shadow, one that breathes neither its spirit, nor speaks the words of the people to whom it belongs.”
“These robes we wear are more than mere ornaments. They are to serve as a reminder of that most noble trust bestowed upon those fortunate enough to don them. Instead, throughout our history, they have too often stood as symbols of betrayal through silence and complicity alike. If future generations are to see them any differently, then our future cannot be a repeat of our past.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.