CJP to immediately convene Full Court meeting to formulate an institutional response
Justice Yahya Afridi. PHOTO: FILE
A group of 38 former law clerks of the Supreme Court of Pakistan has 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 “spell the final death knell of the Supreme Court”.
The signatories — including lawyers Mirza Moiz Baig, Umer Gilani, Hareem Godil, Alizeh Akbar Meer, and others — said the amendment represents “a threat far graver than the one faced in 2007,” urging the CJP to immediately convene a Full Court meeting to formulate an institutional response.
“As former law clerks of the Supreme Court, we believe that the independence of the judiciary currently faces a threat far graver than the one it faced in 2007,” the letter stated. “The greatest threat to an independent judiciary is judges willing to capitulate their independence.”
The former clerks reminded the Chief Justice that the apex court, through its landmark rulings — Sindh High Court Bar Association vs Federation of Pakistan (PLD 2009 SC 879) and District Bar Association Rawalpindi vs Federation of Pakistan (PLD 2015 SC 401) — had reaffirmed the judiciary’s constitutional duty to preserve the separation of powers and safeguard its independence.
Read: Letters flood SC urging response
Even yesterday, letters were penned down — one endorsed by senior lawyers and retired judges — have denounced 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 garb of reform” and urged the Chief Justice to resist it “in line with the court’s historical role as a bulwark against executive and legislative excesses”.
The proposed 27th Constitutional Amendment seeks 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 severely curtail judicial independence.
The draft also proposes changes to Article 243 of the Constitution, including abolishing the post of Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, creating a new Chief of Defence Forces, and granting lifetime tenure and immunity to military chiefs.
Read More: Judiciary weighs response to 27th Amendment
Appealing to CJP Afridi’s own role in the 2007–09 lawyers’ movement, the letter said, “You are in the unique position of immortalising 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 Supreme Court’s destruction or as one who buried the Supreme Court.”
The letter concludes with a stark warning, “We stand on the edge of the precipice. It’s now or never”.
The communication, signed by 38 former clerks of the Supreme Court, comes amid growing opposition within the legal community to the proposed 27th Amendment, which critics argue aims to curtail the judiciary’s autonomy and restructure Pakistan’s judicial system under greater executive control.
