Ex-judges, top lawyers urge CJP to summon full court on 27th Amendment

As the government made moves toward the passage of the 27th Constitutional Amendment, former judges and top lawyers on Monday urged Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi to summon a full court meeting to discuss the proposed legislation. The request came in a letter, dated November 9, that was penned by senior counsel Faisal Siddiqi. It was also signed and endorsed by former SC senior puisne judge retired Justice Mushir Alam, former Sindh High Court (SHC) judge retired Justice Nadeem Akhtar and nine other top lawyers. The letter said that the missive was being written “not in normal times but in times that presented the greatest threat to the Supreme Court of Pakistan since its establishment in 1956”. It termed the 27th Amendment Act as the “biggest and the most radical restructuring of the Federal Appellate Court structure since the enactment of the Government of India Act, 1935”. “We say this without any fear of contradiction that no civilian or military government in Pakistan’s history has even tried, let alone succeeded, in relegating the Supreme Court of Pakistan as a subordinate court and permanently denude it of its constitutional jurisdiction, as is being done through the proposed Constitution (Twenty-Seventh Amendment) Act, 2025,” the lawyers and judges said in the letter. “If your Lordship is in agreement with us that this proposed amendment act is the biggest and most radical restructuring of the Supreme Court of Pakistan since its inception, then we would most respectfully request, and fully expect your Lordship, to call a full court meeting to discuss this proposed Amendment Act and to give an appropriate response to the federal government in the form of inputs and suggestions regarding this proposed amendment act,” they added. “We would respectfully not like to explain to your Lordship that the Supreme Court has every right and power to give its input to the federal government on any proposed amendment act,” the legal experts said, adding that the legislation proposes “radical restructuring” of SC’s basic essence, structure and its constitutional obligation to administer justice for all. The letter reiterated the call for an immediate full court meeting, noting that the Amendment was expected to be passed by November 11 “or any day thereafter”. The lawyers and judges went on to add that in case this request was declined on the “pretext of neutrality or noninterference with legislation (which we consider to be reasons without any substance), then we would at least expect you to accept and admit in a written response to us that you are now reconciled to be the last chief justice of Pakistan and now reconciled to accept the demise of the Supreme Court of Pakistan as the highest court in Pakistan”. “At least by this admission by you, we would no longer have any kind of expectation from your Lordship to be a defender of the Supreme Court,” they said. The letter requested that, as this was a matter of “utmost public importance”, a copy of the missive be released to the media. Besides Siddiqui and retired judges Alam and Akhtar, the letter was also endorsed by former attorney generals for Pakistan (AGP) Muneer A. Malik, Anwar Mansoor Khan; ex-presidents of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Abid Shahid Zuberi, Ali Ahmad Kurd, Muhammad Akram Sheikh and Kanrani B. Amanullah; and SC advocates Khwaja Ahmad Hosain, Salahuddin Ahmed and Shabnam Nawaz Awan. Zuberi, Sheikh and Salahuddin are among the petitioners who have challenged the 26th Amendment, which had also faced great opposition from the legal fraternity at the time of its passage in October 2024. Kurd and other lawyers had vowed to launch a protest movement to reject that Amendment and “restore the judiciary’s independence”. Malik and Hosain had last month presented their arguments in the 26th Amendment case as counsels for the Balochistan High Court Bar Association (BHCBA) and veteran politician Afrasiab Khattak, respectively.