ISLAMABAD: Senator Ali Zafar, member of Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP), has written a letter to Chief Justice Yahya Afridi requesting him to postpone the commission’s meeting.
Expressing concerns over the controversy surrounding the seniority of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) judges, PTI Senator Barrister Ali Zafar has urged Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi to postpone the JCP meeting until the matter is settled “in accordance with the law”.
He said the session be deferred until the issue of seniority is settled in the IHC.
In the letter, he said due to the recent transfer and posting of the judges, the seniority list of the IHC has changed. These developments, he opined, could have serious effects on the justice system.
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It was claimed in the letter that this whole pattern appeared to be planned efforts to affect the pleas of Bushra Bibi and former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Senator Zafar proposed that postponing the JCP meeting until the seniority issue is resolved would be appropriate. Alternatively, if the meeting is unavoidable, the recently transferred judges should not be considered, he wrote.
A day earlier, four judges of the apex court have written a letter to the chief justice, demanding the postponement of the JCP meeting scheduled for February 10.
They stated that the appointment of new judges should be halted until the 26th Constitutional Amendment case is decided.
Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Ayesha Malik, and Justice Athar Minallah authored the letter.
In the letter, the judges urged that at the very least, appointments should be delayed until the constitutional bench decides on the request for a full court. They also stated that new judicial appointments should be put on hold until the seniority of IHC judges is determined.
The letter highlighted that the constitutional bench might call for a full court in the 26th Amendment case, which could create a dispute over which judges would constitute the full court.
The judges pointed out that three judges were transferred to the IHC, and according to the Constitution, they were required to take a fresh oath.
The letter argued that without taking the oath, the status of these judges remains questionable. Despite this, the seniority list of IHC judges has already been altered.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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