ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi summoned a Full Court meeting today (Friday) over the 27th Amendment, the sources said.
Three judges, including Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Athar Minallah, and Justice Salahuddin Panhwar, wrote letters to the Chief Justice Yahya Afridi, urging him to convene a Full Court meeting to discuss the 27th Amendment.
The meeting will be held before the Friday prayer, the sources further said, adding that all judges of the Supreme Court in this regard have been informed.
27th Amendment: Chief Justice urged to convene a ‘judicial conference’ for ‘open dialogue’
After the signature by President Asif Ali Zardari, the 27th Amendment has become part of the Constitution. Both Houses of Parliament have earlier passed the 27th Amendment.
Justice Panhwar, in his letter opposing the amendment, cited concerns over the curtailment of the court’s jurisdiction. “There comes a time when silence is not caution but abdication. I believe such a time may now be upon us,” he wrote.
Justice Panhwar noted that the 27thAmendment “appears to touch the very foundations upon which the edifice of our judiciary rests.” “It speaks of changes that may bring the executive and legislature into areas long reserved for judicial independence,” he cautioned.
Emphasizing the sanctity of an independent judiciary, Justice Panhwar stated that judicial independence “is not a matter of privilege; it is the very condition upon which liberty itself depends.” He warned that “If the judiciary is not free from fear, influence, or control, then the rule of law becomes but a phrase—hollow and without breath.” In his six-page letter, Justice Mansoor asked the incumbent CJP that you, as the “Head of the Judiciary”, are the trustee of this institution. Therefore, it is your constitutional and moral duty to ensure that no amendment affecting the judiciary proceeds without the judiciary’s considered, collegial, and recorded response.” “To permit otherwise would be to allow the judiciary to be restructured without its own participation, violating both constitutional propriety and the principle of separation of powers,” he added.
The SC senior puisne judge questioned, “Have the judges of the constitutional courts-the Supreme Court, the Federal Shariat Court, and the High Courts-been invited to deliberate on the proposed amendment and record their institutional response? If not, the process stands stripped of constitutional propriety and democratic legitimacy.”
Justice Mansoor wrote that until the questions [surrounding the 26th Amendment] are conclusively settled, any further attempt to alter the judicial architecture risks camouflaging unresolved constitutional infirmities and casting further doubt on the credibility of both the amendment process and the constitutional order.
Justice Athar Minallah also urged the CJP to convene a judicial conference to have an open institutional dialogue with all judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts to consider threats to the independence of the judiciary.
In his seven-page letter, he recounted the role of the superior judiciary, particularly the Supreme Court, in the past supporting the dictators, who had trampled the constitutions, thus eroding people’s trust in the institution.
“The Supreme Court, by design or omission, has too often been employed as an instrument to suppress the will of the people, rather than to safeguard it. From the validation of the dissolution of the first expression of the will of the people, the Constituent Assembly, to the repeated endorsement of unconstitutional interventions by unelected power centres,” he wrote.
Former judges and the senior lawyers asked the CJP to call a Full Court meeting to deliberate on the implications of the proposed 27th Amendment and to articulate the judiciary’s collective stance.
Former judges, including ex-CJP Jawad S Khawaja, Justice Mushir Alam, ex-senior puisne judge of the Supreme Court, former Justice Nadeem Akhtar, ex- ex-senior puisne judge of the Sindh High Court, and former Attorney Generals of Pakistan Munir A. Malik, and Anwar Mansoor Khan, along with former Presidents of Supreme Court Bar Association Akram Sheikh, Ali Ahmed Kurd, Amanullah Kanrani and Abid Zuberi, and senior lawyers Khawaja Ahmed Hosain, Salahuddin Ahmed and Shabnam Nawaz Awan. They have expressed grave concern over the 27th Constitutional Amendment.
A group of lawyers – including Asad Rahim Khan and Zeeshaan Hashmi – have also filed a petition in the apex court against the amendment.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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