The CJP will immediately convene a plenary meeting of the Court to formulate an institutional response
Justice Yahya Afridi. PHOTO: FILE
A group of 38 former lawyers of the Supreme Court of Pakistan have written a letter to Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi, warning that the proposed 27th constitutional amendment poses an “existential threat” to judicial independence and could “sound the death knell for the Supreme Court”.
The signatories – including lawyers Mirza Moiz Baig, Umer Gilani, Hareem Godil, Alizeh Akbar Meer and others – said the amendment posed “a far greater threat than the one it faced in 2007,” urging the CJP to immediately convene a full court meeting to formulate an institutional response.
“As former Supreme Court jurists, we believe that the independence of the judiciary currently faces a far greater threat than it faced in 2007,” the letter said. “The greatest threat to an independent judiciary is judges willing to capitulate on their independence. »
The former registrars reminded the chief justice that the apex court, through its landmark decisions – Sindh High Court Bar Association v. Federation of Pakistan (PLD 2009 SC 879) and District Bar Association Rawalpindi v. Federation of Pakistan (PLD 2015 SC 401) – had reaffirmed the constitutional duty of the judiciary to preserve the separation of powers and safeguard its independence.
Read: Letters flood SC demanding response
Just yesterday, letters were written – including one endorsed by senior lawyers and retired judges – denouncing the amendment as a “political device to weaken and control the judiciary” and the “most radical restructuring of the Supreme Court since the Government of India Act, 1935”.
They noted that the 27th Amendment “seeks to subjugate the judiciary under the guise of reform” and urged the Chief Justice to resist it “consistent with the Court’s historic role as a bulwark against executive and legislative excess.”
The proposed 27th constitutional amendment aims to bring sweeping changes to Pakistan’s judicial, administrative and federal structures. It envisages the creation of federal constitutional courts in Islamabad and the provinces, empowers the executive to oversee judicial transfers and reintroduces executive magistrates – measures that critics say would seriously curtail judicial independence.
The bill also proposes amendments to Article 243 of the Constitution, including abolishing the post of chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, creating a new chief of defense forces, and granting life tenure and immunity to military leaders.
Learn more: Judiciary mulls response to 27th Amendment
Appealing to CJP Afridi’s own role in the lawyers’ movement from 2007 to 2009, the letter said: “You are in the unique position of immortalizing your name in the annals of judicial history. Your actions today will dictate whether you will be known as the Chief Justice who stood as a bulwark against the destruction of the Supreme Court or as the one who buried the Supreme Court.”
The letter ends with a stern warning: “We are on the edge of the precipice. It is now or never.”
The communication, signed by 38 former Supreme Court clerks, comes amid growing opposition within the legal community to the proposed 27th Amendment, which critics say aims to restrict the autonomy of the judiciary and restructure Pakistan’s justice system under greater executive control.
