The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) appointed six judges of the Superior Court on Monday to rise to the Supreme Court, while the lawyers in Islamabad organized protests, demanding that the debatable be postponed.
The JCP meeting is produced in the midst of the opposition expressed by four judges of the Apex Court and also follows the recent transfer of judges to the Superior Court of Islamabad (IHC), which opposed five IHC judges.
The JCP, which approves the judicial appointments, will end the appointments for eight vacancies of SC. According to the weakened constitutional amendment, the Commission reconstituted to include four members of Parliament.
According to a press release issued by the JCP today, a meeting was held to consider the nominations for the appointment of judges of the Superior Court in the SC and, for the majority of their total membership, nominated six judges.
The main judges of all the higher courts, except the Superior Court of Lahore (LHC), were among the six judges elected.
These six judges are Judge Muhammad Hashim Khan Kakar, Judge Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui, Judge Salahuddin Panhwar, Judge Shakeel Ahmad, Judge Aamer Faooq and Judge Ishtiaq Ibrahim.
The commission, also for the majority of his total membership, nominated Judge Miangul Hassan Aurengzeb as the interim judge of the SC.
On the other hand, the lawyers met today in several places in Islamabad, with the Law of Action of Lawyers organizing a protest near D-Chowk. Meanwhile, the entrance route to the red zone closed with several other roads also blocked.
Holding a Urundu banner that said “the 26th unacceptable constitutional amendment”, the protesters raised slogans against him. They also sang “Azaadi“(Libertad) and” Lawyer Unit Zindabad“(Long Live Live Lawyers of the Unit).
Around 100 lawyers also met in Serena Chowk when the route to Nadra Chowk was blocked, a Dawn.com The correspondent reported, adding that Serena’s chowk was also locked up.
Meanwhile, the Rawalpindi Metro Autobuses service to Islamabad was partially suspended, and the capital administration “cited security reasons.”
While the bus service from the Rawalpindi Saddar Station to the Faiz Ahmed Faiz de Islamabad stop was open, the service from now on to the Secretariat station was closed, a Dawn.com reported correspondent.
The routes of La Serena, Express and Nadra Chowks go to the Red Zone, which houses the country’s Parliament building, as well as the embassies and offices of foreign institutions, they had closed.
The closure affected the traffic flow, causing a jam and a long tail of vehicles that expected to enter the red zone from Margalla Road, the correspondent added.
On February 3, the legal fraternity in Islamabad had observed a strike to protest the transfer of three judges of the Court superior to the IHC, but could not cause a generalized response. Karachi’s lawyer association had supported the strike call to stay away
The lawyers of the lawyers had also held a convention in the district courts of Islamabad, opposing the 26th amendment and demanding the cancellation of the JCP meeting today.
Last month, the Bar Association of the Superior Court of Lahore (LHCBA) transferred an application before the Apex court through the lawyer Muhammad Waqar Rana in search of postponement of the JCP meeting.
PTI boycott meeting
The Senator of PTI Ali Zafar, who yesterday requested that the JCP meeting be postponed, and the party president, Mna Gohar Ali Khan, boycotted the minutes of the commission today.
Speaking to the media in Islamabad, Gohar recalled the letters written by some SC and Zafar judges and said he reiterated the PTI request that the meeting is “postponed for a few days.”
However, Gohar added, since the JCP motorcycle was not postponed, the two PTI leaders “did not participate in it.”
The president of PTI pointed out that his party had remained a “part of the process” to designate the judges despite opposing the 26th amendment, under which the JCP was reconstituted to include more legislators.
Speaking next to Gohar, Zafar described with the debatable JCP without solving the problem of IHC transfers as “inappropriate.”
“First, the courts must decide who the senior is more [judge of IHC]Then we will participate in the JCP meeting and we will obtain our point of view on the record, ”said the senator.
In addition, he said that a delegation of the International Monetary Fund that Pakistan should visit “would like to see our objections.”
The transfer dating saga, SC
Earlier this month, the Commission requested nominations of all higher courts, requesting a list of five senior judges of each.
Initially, the IHC had forwarded the names of three judges, the president of the Supreme Court Aamer Faooq, Judge Mohsin Akhtar Kayani and Judge Miangul Hassan Aurengzeb, to the JCP because the Judges Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri and Babar Sattar did not meet the minimum requirement of Five years of service.
However, when Judge Sarfraz Dogar became the judge of Puisne of IHC after his transfer from the LHC, his name has also been sent to the JCP.
Days before the name of Judge Dogar, five IHC judges approached the president of the Supreme Court of Pakistan Yahya Afridi and IHC President of the Supreme Court Aamer Faooq to claim his antiquity.
According to the representation presented by the judges, a judge makes an oath for the Superior Court in which they are appointed. In addition, he emphasized that according to the constitutional intention, a judge must make a new oath when transferred to another superior court.
According to this principle, the antiquity of a judge transferred to another superior court must be determined from the date of its new oath.
Four SC judges also raised similar concerns last week and are also looking for today’s JCP session until a decision on requests against the 26th amendment is made.
In his letter, the senior judge of Puisne, Judge Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Judge Munib Akhtar, Judge Ayesha A. Malik and Judge Athar Minallah had said that the only viable solution and option in the current circumstances to save the dignity The court was to postpone the JCP sitting.
The PTI opposition in a letter also urged CJP Afridi yesterday to postpone the commission meeting. The letter was written by Senator Ali Zafar, who represents PTI in the JCP along with the president of the party, Barrímor Gohar Ali Khan.
