ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Mian Rauf Atta made it clear that authority to make a call for any lawyers’ strike/ protest, or movement solely rests with the elected representatives of the legal fraternity, not with any unelected person.
The SCBA chief was reacting to the press conference of Senator Hamid Khan ASC, saying that his press conference was akin to aligning with a specific political stance.
Hamid Khan in the press conference criticised the legitimacy of the 26th constitutional amendment and the formulation of the constitutional bench. He further announced to start lawyers’ movement against the amendment from 30th November 2024.
On October 21, 2024, President Asif Ali Zardari ratified the 26th Constitutional Amendment on the advice of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif after crucial amendments were passed by two-thirds members of the Parliament.
Amendments were made in various provisions of the constitution. The freshly-amended Article 175-A states that a 13-member judicial commission, comprising the chief justice, three most senior judges of the Supreme Court, most senior judge of the constitutional benches, law minister, attorney general for Pakistan, a nominee from the Pakistan Bar Council, two members each from the National Assembly and the Senate, and a woman or non-Muslim from outside parliament will work for the appointment of the judge in the Supreme Court, High Courts and the Federal Shariat Court.
Pursuant to the 26th amendment, Judicial Commission of Pakistan on November 5 by a majority of 7 to 5 picked Justice AminudDin Khan as the head of seven-member constitutional bench in the Supreme Court. The bench included Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Ayesha Malik, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Musarrat Hilali, and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan.
According to a statement issued by the SCBA office on Monday; “Such calls are only meant to create division with the legal fraternity, which is highly disgraceful. I want to assert that this Association cannot allow anyone to promote political agendas using the shoulders of legal fraternity.”
Rauf stated that the SCBA, being the apex representative body of the entire legal fraternity, had already approved the amendment passed by Parliament. “Needless to state that the recommendations of the legal fraternity have been fully enforced in the Amendments. We once again reiterate our full confidence in the constitution of a (the bench) and shall not allow anyone to undermine the integrity and disturb the working of the constitutional bench for petty political whims,” he added.
The SCBA president said; “As of today, the bench is working promptly, and we hope that it will contribute to reducing the substantial backlog of constitutional cases and will increase the efficiency of the Supreme Court.”
“Aggrieved from the formation of the bench are those who do not want to see the efficient Supreme Court contributing speedy and expeditious dispensation of justice,” he concluded.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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