Lawyers of the Karachi Bar Association (KBA) staged a protest on Saturday at the Sindh High Court (SHC) against the recently enacted 27th Constitutional Amendment.
The contentious amendment, which resulted in the establishment of the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC), was passed by Parliament amid the opposition’s outcry.
It has also been criticised by some legal experts as a means to dethrone the Supreme Court (SC) as the country’s highest judicial forum, ceding that position to the FCC.
Former and sitting judges, as well as lawyers, voiced opposition to the amendment, particularly citing its impact on the SC. Hours after the amendment was enacted on November 13, two judges of the SC resigned, citing their reservations against it. The two judges were Athar Minallah and Mansoor Ali Shah, who was the senior puisne judge of the SC at the time.
Today, lawyers began their protest outside the SHC’s premises by chanting slogans against the amendment and later entered the high court’s premises.
Visuals showed some lawyers engaging in a scuffle with police personnel. Following the scuffle, police personnel backed up and allowed the protest to continue. There were reports of some minor injuries to police officials.
The lawyers entered the Sindh High Court Bar Association’s hall and continued their protest with sloganeering against the amendment and the government. They later took their demonstration outside the bar room after the electricity supply was switched off.
The KBA had observed a full-day strike in the subordinate judiciary last week in protest over the amendment’s passage and to express solidarity with the retired judges. It had also observed a full-day strike on Monday, during which litigants were not allowed to enter the City Courts premises and proceedings were adjourned due to the boycott.
The KBA had stated that from Tuesday to Saturday (today), “token strikes will be observed from 11am onwards”.
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