fraternity for abolishing judicial independence through the formation of a Federal Constitutional Court (FCC).<\/p>\n
SC Justices Mansoor Ali Shah and Athar Minallah resigned earlier this evening, in response to the 27th Amendment, which \u201cdiminished\u201d the apex court.<\/p>\n
Khan\u2019s petition, a copy of which is available with Dawn, requested that the Supreme Court declare Sections 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 14 to 43, 45A and B, 46 and 48 of the Constitution (Twenty-seventh Amendment) Act, 2025 illegal and unlawful, as it violated Entry 55 of the Federal Legislative List, read with other provisions of the Constitution.<\/p>\n
According to the petition, Entry 55 \u201censures a horizontal separation between the legislative and judicial branches\u201d by defining the jurisdiction of the apex court. The petition moved the SC to declare that its jurisdiction cannot be abolished by an act of parliament.<\/p>\n
Additionally, Khan moved the SC to \u201cdirect the respondent (the Federation of Pakistan) to take such measures as may be required for securing the independence of the judiciary; and such further or better relief as may be appropriate in the facts and circumstances of the case may also be granted\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe parenthetical clause (\u201cexcept for the Supreme Court\u201d) makes it abundantly clear that the Apex Court\u2019s jurisdiction \u2014 unlike that of the courts below it \u2014 cannot be interfered with, let alone abbreviated, through any kind of legislation, even an amendment to the Constitution,\u201d the petition read.<\/p>\n
Noting that the act was passed in haste and an \u201cunconstitutional and procedurally defective manner\u201d, Khan argued that rushing the bills through parliament violated key principles of parliamentary democracy and was neither public nor transparent.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe act is thus an assault on parliamentary democracy itself, and merits being struck down on this score alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
He further argued that the amendment is enabling the \u201cinfluencing and purging [of] independent-minded Judges of the Supreme Court and the high courts\u201d and stated that a judge\u2019s position depending on the whim of the executive is antithetical to judicial independence.<\/p>\n
The petition also argued that the composition of the FCC \u2014 a key component of the 27th Amendment \u2014 was \u201cequally alarming\u201d, as the chief justice would be appointed by the president on the prime minister\u2019s advice, but without any deliberation or consultation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis permits the executive to handpick the de facto highest judicial authority in Pakistan, in direct violation of the principle of judicial independence,\u201d Khan argued.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe initial cohort of FCC judges is likewise to be appointed solely on executive advice, again without any role for the judiciary or any consultative mechanism. A court constituted entirely at the will of the executive cannot claim independence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Senate\u2019s approval
\nThe president\u2019s assent to the legislation came hours after the Senate approved the bill for the amendment after voting on it for a second time amid the opposition\u2019s protest.<\/p>\n
Announcing the result, Senate Chairman Yousuf Raza Gilani said 64 votes had been cast in favour of the bill and four against it. \u201cSo the motion is carried by the votes of not less than two-thirds of the total membership of the Senate, and consequently, the bill stands passed.\u201d<\/p>\n
The house first voted on the bill clause by clause and then by division. While clause-by-clause voting was under way, slogans of aain ki tabahi, na manzoor (destruction of the Constitution, unacceptable) filled the house, prompting Gilani to say at one point, \u201cNo slogans\u201d.<\/p>\n
The bill was initially presented in the Senate for voting on Monday and passed the same day. It was then referred to the NA, which approved it with some amendments yesterday. Therefore, the proposed legislation was again presented in the Senate today to consider the latest changes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
fraternity for abolishing judicial independence through the formation of a Federal Constitutional Court (FCC). SC Justices Mansoor Ali Shah and Athar Minallah resigned earlier this evening, in response to the 27th Amendment, which \u201cdiminished\u201d the apex court. Khan\u2019s petition, a copy of which is available with Dawn, requested that the Supreme Court declare Sections 2, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13383,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-court-and-crime"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13382"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13382\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13384,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13382\/revisions\/13384"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}