The resignations came just hours after President Zardari signed the amendment bill into law on Thursday.
Justice Mansoor Ali Shah (left) and Justice Athar Minallah (right). Photo: Files
President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday accepted the resignation of the Supreme Court’s top judges, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Athar Minallah, a day after the two judges resigned in protest against the passage of the 27th constitutional amendment.
The president’s office confirmed this development in a brief statement released on X.
President Asif Ali Zardari has accepted the resignations of Supreme Court judges Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Athar Minallah.
– The President of Pakistan (@PresOfPakistan) November 14, 2025
The unprecedented resignations came just hours after President Zardari signed the amendment bill into law on Thursday, triggering unrest in the country’s highest court and sparking widespread concern among the legal fraternity.
In his resignation letter, Justice Shah called the 27th Amendment “a serious attack on the Constitution of Pakistan”, warning that it had “fragmented the Supreme Court of Pakistan”.
He said: “The Twenty-seventh Constitutional Amendment constitutes a serious attack on the Constitution of Pakistan. It dismantles the Supreme Court of Pakistan, subjects the judiciary to executive control and strikes at the very heart of our constitutional democracy, making the judiciary more distant, more fragile and more vulnerable to power.
Read: Supreme Court Justices Mansoor Ali Shah and Athar Minallah resign after passage of 27th Amendment
Justice Shah said he could no longer uphold his oath while sitting in a court deprived of its constitutional role. “I am unable to uphold my oath sitting in a court that has been deprived of its constitutional role; resignation therefore becomes the only honest and effective expression of upholding my oath. To continue in such a version of the Supreme Court of Pakistan would only suggest that I have bartered my oath for titles, salaries or privileges.”
Invoking Article 206(1) of the Constitution, he added: “Accordingly, for the reasons set out below, and in accordance with Article 206(1) of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, I hereby resign from office as a Judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, with immediate effect. »
Justice Athar Minallah echoed similar concerns in his strongly worded resignation. Considering it a privilege to have served the judiciary, he said his oath forced him to resign. “It has been my greatest honor and privilege to serve the people of Pakistan within their judiciary and I have endeavored to the best of my ability to discharge my duties in accordance with my oath. Today, it is this same oath that compels me to tender my official resignation.”
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Lamenting the state of the Constitution, he said: “The Constitution that I swore to respect and defend is no more. Although I have tried to convince myself otherwise, I can think of no greater attack on his memory than to claim that, while new foundations are now being laid, they rest on anything other than his grave.
Concluding his letter, Justice Minallah wrote: “It is with this fervent hope that I hang up this robe for the last time and tender my official resignation from the post of Judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, with immediate effect. »
The resignations follow a wave of urgent letters and appeals from Supreme Court justices, bar associations and senior members of the legal community urging reconsideration of the amendment. Many argued that the new law threatened judicial independence and risked altering the constitutional balance of power.
