27th Amendment: Former judges, senior lawyers request CJP to call full court meeting

A group of 12 former judges and prominent lawyers have called on Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi to convene a full court meeting to deliberate on the 27th Constitutional Amendment.

The appeal was made through a letter dated November 9, authored by senior lawyer Faisal Siddiqi and endorsed by retired Supreme Court senior puisne judge Justice Mushir Alam, retired Sindh High Court judge Justice Nadeem Akhtar, and nine other leading legal figures.

Others who signed the letter included former attorneys general Muneer A. Malik and Anwar Mansoor Khan; former Supreme Court Bar Association presidents Abid Shahid Zuberi, Ali Ahmad Kurd, Muhammad Akram Sheikh and Kanrani B. Amanullah; and Supreme Court advocates Khwaja Ahmad Hosain, Salahuddin Ahmed and Shabnam Nawaz Awan.

In the letter, Siddiqi noted that the communication was being sent “not in normal times but in times that presented the greatest threat to the Supreme Court of Pakistan since its establishment in 1956”.

🚨🚨#BREAKING: 12 senior advocates of the #SupremeCourt included 2 former judges of Supreme Court and Sindh High Court urged CJP Yahya Afridi to summon full court meeting and consult 27th amendment otherwise “at least expect you to accept and admit in a written response to us… pic.twitter.com/E8p3blTOpU

— Asad Ali Toor (@AsadAToor) November 10, 2025

The proposed 27th Amendment Act was described as the “biggest and the most radical restructuring of the Federal Appellate Court structure since the enactment of the Government of India Act, 1935”.

The legal experts warned: “We say this without any fear of contradiction that no civilian or military government in Pakistan’s history has even tried, let alone succeeded, in relegating the Supreme Court of Pakistan as a subordinate court and permanently denude it of its constitutional jurisdiction, as is being done through the proposed Constitution (Twenty-Seventh Amendment) Act, 2025.”

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They urged the CJP that if he agreed with their assessment, then “we would most respectfully request, and fully expect your Lordship, to call a full court meeting to discuss this proposed Amendment Act and to give an appropriate response to the federal government in the form of inputs and suggestions regarding this proposed amendment act”.