Supreme Court judges Mansoor Ali Shah, Athar Minallah resign after passage of 27th Amendment
In his resignation, Justice Shah terms 27th Amendment a ‘great assault’ on Constitution
Justice Mansoor Ali Shah (L) and Justice Athar Minallah (R). Photo: Files
In a surprising turn of events, Supreme Court Justices Mansoor Ali Shah and Athar Minallah have resigned from their posts.
The development follows the passage of the 27th Constitutional Amendment, which legal experts say significantly curtails the powers of the judiciary.
Under the new legislation, the federal government has established a Federal Constitutional Court (FCC)—a body that now holds authority over constitutional matters, effectively making the Supreme Court subordinate to it. Justice Yahya Afridi has been granted the title of Chief Justice of Pakistan.
In his resignation, Justice Shah has termed 27th Amendement a serious attack on the Constitution,
Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar introduced the new amendment for the clarification that the incumbent chief justice of the Supreme Court would be known as chief justice of Pakistan during his term in office.
Lawyers are questioning the new amendment which has secured the demotion of CJ Yahya Afridi after the 27th amendment.
Earlier, Justice Syed Mansoor had urged CJP Afridi to engage the executive regarding the proposed 27th amendment. Likewise, Justice Athar Minallah also suggested CJP Afridi to convene a judicial convention. Retired judges and lawyers are requested him the same. It is learnt that no formal full court meeting was convened by him on the issue.
After the passage of the 27th constitutional amendment, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday thanked CJ Afridi for his cooperation. Legal experts agree that the 26th and the 27th amendments were not possible without the cooperation from within the Supreme Court.
A former attorney general for Pakistan, commenting on the amendment related CJP Afridi, says that this amendment reminds him of the 8th constitutional amendment which mentioned General Zia by name.
Abdul Moiz Jaferii advocate says that a chief justice has been asked by several senior judges to stand up for what’s right. Lawyers have petitioned him praying for him to act to save the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
“He has been told that the institution is crumbling around him. What is his response? We are told that he put his foot down on this issue.”
On the issue of whether he would still be called the chief justice of Pakistan, Jaferii states that “Nero fiddled whilst Rome burnt. Our CJP was content on retaining a meaningless title whilst riding around on a horse called justice”.
Faisal Siddiqi advocate says the amendment benefits the present regime but what is fascinating is that there is only one person-specific amendment whose beneficiary is CJ Yahya Afridi. “The CJ-specific amendment only applies to the current incumbent. Conversely, the immunity provision will benefit not only the present incumbents but also future incumbents.”
Barrister Salahuddin Ahmed states that “there are three person-specific legislation in the 27th constitutional amendments. Usually such amendments have always been thrown in the dustbin of history”.
