A meeting of the newly constituted Special Parliamentary Committee (SPC) to nominate the next Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) will meet again at 8:30pm after the PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) members skipped its maiden proceeding.
The in-camera meeting of the parliamentary panel comprising government and opposition members held at room no 5 of the Parliament House.
However, the members belonging to the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) skipped the meeting, prompting the committee members to meet again later tonight.
Speaking to journalists after first round of meeting, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar noted that nine members of the Special Parliamentary Committee attended the proceedings.
He added that the required number is present and the committee’s proceedings would not come to a halt. “However, we are democratic-minded people and the beauty of democracy is to unite everyone.”
The minister said that four committee members were requested to visit PTI-SIC lawmakers' chambers and convince them to reconsider their decision and attend the meeting.
The government is racing against time to appoint the new top judge as the incumbent CJP Qazi Faez Isa is set to retire on October 25. Under the previous law, the incumbent CJP would have been automatically replaced by the senior puisne judge — Justice Mansoor Ali Shah.
However, the method has been changed following the enactment of the contentious 26th Constitutional Amendment Bill.
Under amendments to clause 3 of Article 175A, the top judge will now be “appointed on the recommendation of the Special Parliamentary Committee from amongst the three most senior judges of Supreme Court” with two-thirds majority.
After Justice Shah, the next two senior judges were Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Yahya Afridi.
The committee consists of senators Azam Nazeer Tarar from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN), Farooq H Naek from Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Syed Ali Zafar from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and Kamran Murtaza Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F).
Meanwhile, members of the NA from PML-N include Khawaja Asif, Ahsan Iqbal and Shaista Parvez; Raana Ansar from Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), Syed Naveed Qamar and Raja Pervez Ashraf from PPP, and Barrister Gohar Ali Khan and Sahibzada Hamid Raza from the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC).
It may be pointed out that the process for appointment of the new chief justice is required to be completed in the next three days as incumbent CJP Isa is going to retire on October 25.
As per clause 3C of Article 175A, the committee by the majority of not less than two-thirds of its total membership, within 14 days prior to retirement of the CJP would send the nomination. However, the first nomination under clause 3 after commencement of the Constitution (Twenty-sixth) Act 2024 would be sent within three days prior to retirement of the chief justice.
However, the clause (3) of Article 175A also mentioned that if the nominee from amongst three senior most judges declines, the remaining judges from amongst three senior most judges would be considered for nomination.
Earlier, the former ruling party had announced that it would not participate in the Special Parliamentary Committee meeting.
The decision was announced by PTI Central Information Secretary Waqas Akram following the party’s political committee meeting.
After the successful legislation of the 26th Constitutional Amendment, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said the legal reforms will ensure quick redressal of people's cases pending with the judiciary.
"With the 26th Constitutional Amendment, the people will get quick justice from the judicial system," said the premier, while addressing a meeting of federal cabinet on Tuesday.
He added that the establishment of constitutional benches would offer convenience to the common man.
The prime minister's remarks came after the ruling coalition succeeded in pushing the highly contentious judicial reforms through the parliament via a two-third majority with 225 and 65 votes in the lower and upper house, respectively.
Under the judicial reforms — opposed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) which boycotted the voting process — the chief justice of Pakistan will now be selected by a parliamentary committee and have a fixed term of three years.
Meanwhile, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) expressed strong reservations over certain aspects of the Constitution (Twenty-Sixth Amendment) Act 2024.
Although the amendments are more tempered than those proposed in earlier drafts, the human rights watchdog expressed fear that the law will erode judicial independence has not been allayed, HRCP Chairman Ahsan Iqbal Butt said in a statement on Tuesday.
"First, the manner in which constitutional benches are to be established, as well as their composition, raise serious concerns that, in practice, the credibility of these benches may be compromised by direct political influence," he added.
Second, the composition of the Special Parliamentary Committee that will nominate the chief justice of Pakistan (comprising members of the Senate and National Assembly according to their parties' proportional representation) "gives the government of the day a dangerous advantage, potentially subjugating the judiciary in contravention of Pakistan's obligations under Article 14 of the ICCPR", it said.
It read that the HRCP does not object to the amendment to Article 184(3) under which constitutional benches cannot exercise suo moto jurisdiction.
The HRCP showed deep concerns about the opposition's allegations of coercion with respect to supporting the passage of the Act.
"These are extremely serious and must weigh on the conscience of those who proposed the Act. Such allegations must not be dismissed out of hand," Butt said.
The human rights watchdog reiterated that the absence of careful and sustained public debate on a single, official version of the bill — which any constitutional amendment warrants — also raised questions as to the legitimacy of its intent.
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