The newly appointed Special Parliamentary Committee (SPC) is set to nominate the next chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) today from among the three most senior Supreme Court judges after it meets at 4pm.
CJP Qazi Faez Isa is set to retire as the top judge on October 25. Senior puisne judge Justice Mansoor Ali Shah was previously set to be the next CJP under the seniority principle.
However, the newly enacted 26th Constitutional Amendment has brought numerous changes pertaining to the judiciary, among which is the process of appointing the CJP.
Under amendments to clause 3 of Article 175A, instead of the president appointing the “most senior judge of the Supreme Court” as the CJP, the top judge will now be “appointed on the recommendation of the Special Parliamentary Committee from amongst the three most senior” SC judges.
After Justice Shah, the next two senior apex court judges are Justices Munib Akhtar and Yahya Afridi.
The SPC, which was formed a day ago by National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, comprises eight MNAs and four senators nominated by their respective parliamentary leaders. Political parties have representation in the committee based on their strength in the parliament.
The committee comprises PML-N’s Khawaja Asif, Ahsan Iqbal, Shaista Pervaiz Malik and Senator Azam Nazeer Tarar; PPP’s Raja Pervez Ashraf, Naveed Qamar and Senator Farooq H. Naek; Sunni Ittehad Council’s Hamid Raza; PTI-affiliated MNA Gohar Khan and Senator Ali Zafar; Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan MNA Rana Ansar; and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl’s Senator Kamran Murtaza.
According to a notification issued by the NA secretariat, an in-camera meeting of the special committee will take place today at 4pm.
However, according to a post on PTI MNA Sheikh Waqas Akram’s X account, the party’s political committee decided that the PTI would not participate in the meeting.
Under the recent amendment, the committee would send the nominee’s name to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who shall forward the same to President Asif Ali Zardari for the appointment.
The Karachi Bar Association has criticised the “non-transparent and hasty manner” in which the 26th Amendment was passed. It said there was no justifiable reason to deny the appointment of Justice Shah as the next chief justice.
Lawyers’ leaders have vowed to launch a protest movement against the Amendment along the same lines as the one in 2007.
