ISLAMABAD: Hundreds of lawyers from across the country on Sunday called upon the apex court and high courts judges to distance themselves from a proposed federal constitutional court, saying that any complicity in this regard would be tantamount to the defacement of the constitution.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif-led federal government this month sought to get a package of 52 constitutional amendments passed from the parliament but could not present it in the house due to lack of the required two-thirds majority needed to pass it.

The proposed amendments are expected to establish a federal constitutional court, raise the retirement age of superior judges by three years and modify the process for the appointment of chief justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

Lawyers’ bodies advocate formation of ‘Federal Constitutional Court’

The matter has raised widespread concerns among lawyer community, opposition parties and independent experts who say the moves are aimed at increasing the government’s power in making key judicial appointments and dealing with the defection of lawmakers during house votes.

“An assault on our Constitutional compact is being cloaked in the thin garb of arguments grounded in the supremacy of law. These are arguments that do not withstand the slightest intellectual scrutiny, given any serious consideration,” a group of over 300 senior lawyers said in an open letter addressed to the judges of high courts and the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

We urge you — the judges of our constitutional courts — not to recognize this proposed court if such a bill is passed. We urge those of you who may be hand-picked to serve on it not to do so. Complicity will be no defence of the Constitution: it will be its defacement.”

The opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has dubbed the amendments as an attempt to grant an extension to incumbent Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa, who is widely viewed to be aligned with the ruling coalition and in opposition to its chief rival, the PTI.

“We refuse to engage, in good faith, with any such ideas because they are not ideas rooted in good faith,” the lawyers said, in their open letter to the judges of Pakistan’s superior courts.

A large number of prominent lawmakers belonging to ruling coalition - PPP and PML-N - are also not in favour of the proposed amendments, but the powers that be are bent upon getting it passed from parliament by hook or by crook, said a senior PML-N leader who declined to be named.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024