The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) on Monday named six high court judges for elevation to the Supreme Court, while lawyers in Islamabad staged protests, demanding that the moot be postponed.
The JCP meeting comes amidst opposition voiced by four apex court judges and also follows the recent transfer of judges to the Islamabad High Court (IHC), which was opposed by five IHC judges.
The JCP, which approves judicial appointments, will finalise appointments for eight vacant SC positions. Under the much-debated 26th Constitutional Amendment, the commission was reconstituted to include four members of the parliament.
According to a press release issued by the JCP today, a meeting was held to consider the nominations for appointment of high court judges in the SC and, by a majority of its total membership, nominated six judges.
The chief justices of all high courts except the Lahore High Court (LHC) were among the six judges chosen.
These six judges are Justice Muhammad Hashim Khan Kakar, Justice Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui, Justice Salahuddin Panhwar, Justice Shakeel Ahmad, Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim.
The commission — also by a majority of its total membership — nominated Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb as the acting judge of the SC.
Later today, while speaking on the Geo News programme Aaj Shahzaib Khanzada ke Saath, PTI Senator Hamid Khan Hamid Khan called the appointment “unconstitutional”, stating that “it had no legitimacy”.
“We do not accept this appointment,” Khan said, adding that his party had decided to challenge the decision.
In response to the host’s question that the senator’s challenge would be heard by a SC Constitutional Bench, the senator said, “This has nothing to do with the constitutional court or Constitutional Bench,” adding that a full court should hear their appeal.
“This is not workable. The situation developed in the Supreme Court, in the IHC, the SHC and the other high courts. The system cannot work like this,” he said
Earlier in the day, lawyers gathered at various locations in Islamabad today, with the Lawyers’ Action Committee staging a protest near D-Chowk. Meanwhile, the entry route to the Red Zone was closed off with several other roads also blocked.
Meanwhile, the metro bus service from Rawalpindi to Islamabad was partially suspended, with the capital administration “citing security reasons”.
While the bus service from Rawalpindi’s Saddar station to Islamabad’s Faiz Ahmed Faiz stop was open, the service from there onwards to the Secretariat station was closed
Routes from the Serena, Express and Nadra chowks going to the Red Zone, which houses the country’s parliament building as well as embassies and foreign institutions’ offices, had been closed.
