ISLAMABAD (Kashmir English): Senior Supreme Court judges, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Athar Minallah, have tendered their resignations shortly after President Asif Ali Zardari signed the 27th Constitutional Amendment, which includes major judicial overhauls.
Both judges have sent their resignations to President Asif Ali Zardari following the enactment of the much-touted 27th Constitutional Amendment.
The development came after the Senate approved the amendment bill following changes approved by the National Assembly a day earlier, amid noisy protests by the opposition.
Federal Minister for Law Azam Nazeer Tarar presented the constitutional amendment bill today, with the tweaks to the draft earlier approved by the upper house. The amendment bill received 64 votes in favour and four against.
The bill was initially presented in the upper house of parliament on Monday and got a nod on the same day. It was then referred to the NA, which approved it with some amendments. Therefore, the legislation was again presented in the Senate today to approve the latest changes.
In his 13-page-long resignation, Justice Shah termed the amendment a grave assault on the Constitution of Pakistan, which dismantles the Supreme Court of Pakistan, subjugates the judiciary to executive control, and strikes at the very heart of our constitutional democracy.
“The Supreme Court was practically abolished through the constitutional amendment,” Justice Mansoor said. “By fracturing the unity of the nation’s apex court, it has crippled judicial independence and integrity, pushing the country back by decades,” he wrote.
“As history bears witness, such a disfigurement of the constitutional order is unsustainable and will, in time, be reversed — but not before leaving deep institutional scars.”
Separately, in his resignation letter, Justice Minallah protested against the 27th Constitutional Amendment, declaring that the Constitution he swore to protect no longer exists.
Justice wrote that his oath as a judge was not merely to a constitution in form, but to the Constitution in spirit. He said that despite his repeated attempts to believe otherwise, “what is left of it is a mere shadow — one that breathes neither its spirit, nor speaks the words of the people to whom it belongs.”
He revealed that prior to the passage of the 27th Amendment, he had written to the CJP Afridi expressing serious concerns about its implications for the constitutional order. However, he lamented that his fears had now been realised “against a canvas of selective silence and inaction.”
He said his resignation was compelled by the same oath he took upon assuming judicial office, noting that to continue serving after such an amendment would amount to betraying that sacred trust.
