Lawyers stage protests in Islamabad as JCP meets to choose 8 SC judges

As a meeting of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) was underway today (Monday) to finalise the names of eight judges for elevation to the Supreme Court, 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.

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.

Holding an Urdu banner reading “26th Constitutional Amendment unacceptable”, the demonstrators raised slogans against it. They also chanted “Azaadi” (freedom) and “Lawyers’ unity zindabad” (long live lawyers’ unity).

Around 100 lawyers also gathered at Serena Chowk as the route to Nadra Chowk was blocked, a media.com correspondent reported, adding that the Serena Chowk was also barricaded.

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, a media.com correspondent reported.

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.

The closure affected the flow of traffic, causing a jam and a long queue of vehicles waiting 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 high court judges to the IHC but it could not elicit a widespread response. The Karachi Bar Association had supported the strike call by staying away

The lawyers’ representatives had also held a convention at the Islamabad District Courts, opposing the 26th Amendment and demanding the cancellation of the JCP meeting today.

Last month, the Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) moved an application before the apex court through Advocate Muhammad Waqar Rana seeking postponement of the JCP’s meeting.

PTI boycotts meeting

PTI Senator Ali Zafar, who yesterday called for the JCP meeting to be postponed, and party chairman MNA Gohar Ali Khan boycotted today’s proceedings of the commission.

Speaking to the media in Islamabad, Gohar recalled the letters written by some SC judges and Zafar and said he reiterated the PTI’s request that the meeting be “postponed for a few days”.

However, Gohar added, as the JCP moot was not postponed, the two PTI leaders “did not participate in it”.

The PTI chairman noted that his party had remained a “part of the process” of appointing judges despite opposing the 26th Amendment, under which the JCP was reconstituted to include more lawmakers.

Speaking alongside Gohar, Zafar termed holding the JCP moot without resolving the issue of transfers to the IHC as “inappropriate”.

“First, the courts must decide who is the senior most [judge of IHC], then we will participate in the JCP meeting and get our point of view on the record,” the senator said.

He further claimed that a delegation of the International Monetary Fund that was due to visit Pakistan “would like to see our objections”.

The transfer, SC appointments saga

Earlier this month, the commission sought nominations from all high courts, requesting a list of five senior judges from each.

Initially, the IHC had forwarded the names of three judges — Chief Justice Aamer Farooq, Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb — to the JCP because Justices Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri and Babar Sattar did not meet the minimum requirement of five years of service.

However, as Justice Sarfraz Dogar was made the IHC senior puisne judge following his transfer there from the Lahore High Court, his name has also been sent to the JCP.

Days before Justice Dogar’s name was added, five judges of the IHC approached Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi and IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq to reclaim their seniority.

According to the representation submitted by the judges, a judge takes an oath for the high court in which they are appointed. It further emphasised that according to the constitutional intent, a judge must take a fresh oath when transferred to another high court.

Based on this principle, the seniority of a judge transferred to another high court should be determined from the date of their new oath.

Four SC judges also raised similar concerns last week and are also seeking the postponement of today’s JCP session until a decision is made on the petitions against the 26th Amendment.

In their letter, senior puisne judge Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Ayesha A. Malik and Justice Athar Minallah had said that the only viable solution and option in the present circumstances to save the court’s dignity was to postpone the JCP sitting.

The opposition PTI in a letter also urged CJP Afridi yesterday to postpone the commission’s meeting. The letter was written by Senator Ali Zafar who represents PTI in the JCP alongside party chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan.