ISLAMABAD – Federal Constitutional Court has been formed led by Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan, who previously served as a Supreme Court judge for six years..
The court comprises six other judges: three from the Supreme Court, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Amir Farooq, and Justice Ali Baqi Najfi, and three from provincial high courts: Balochistan Chief Justice Rozi Khan, Sindh High Court Justice Kareem Khan Agha, and Peshawar High Court Justice Arshad Hussain Shah.
Federal Constitutional Court is now empowered to hear all cases with constitutional questions, especially those involving the state, income tax disputes, revenue matters, and any Supreme Court cases with constitutional points. It can even take suo motu notices.
Amid the debate, Pakistani legal eagles defended the amendment, saying it fulfills a long-standing demand for court dedicated to constitutional matters. Some suggest that political cases dominated the Supreme Court, leaving ordinary litigants waiting endlessly for justice.
Legal experts and retired judges, however, see the amendment as a direct attack on judicial independence. Barrister Salahuddin said, “It seems all powers of the Supreme Court have been handed over to the Federal Constitutional Court. The Supreme Court now exists largely in name only.”
Retired Justice Faisal Arab warned that the 27th Amendment has reduced the Supreme Court to a “regular judicial bunker,” stripping it of its role as Pakistan’s highest court. He compared it to global instances where attempts to alter a constitution’s basic structure are resisted by the judiciary, citing India as an example.
The creation of the Federal Constitutional Court raises urgent questions: Will pending Supreme Court cases finally see relief? Will ordinary citizens’ access to justice improve? Or has the Supreme Court been rendered powerless, subservient to political forces?
For now, petitions challenging the 27th Amendment will be heard by the very court it created, leaving observers to question: Which judges will decide the fate of a court that they themselves were forced to accept?
The legal and political storm shows no signs of abating, and Pakistan’s judiciary stands at a historic and potentially perilous crossroads. Their resignations come in the wake of the controversial 27th Constitutional Amendment, which has not only reshaped the judicial landscape but also established the country’s first Federal Constitutional Court.
Justice Athar Minallah, in a scathing resignation letter to the President, said “No matter how much I try to convince myself, the reality is that an attack on the spirit of the Constitution has already taken place… the judicial robes we wear are not merely formal attire, yet they have often symbolized silence and inaction.”
Justice Mansoor Ali Shah echoed the concern, warning that the judiciary has been reduced to a government subordinate under the new amendment. Both judges criticized the shift in power, signaling a constitutional crisis.
