CJP Yahya Afridi calls full court meeting to discuss 27th Amendment

Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi has called a full court meeting on Friday after several Supreme Court judges wrote letters expressing reservations over the 27th Constitutional Amendment.

Justice Salahuddin Panhwar became the third judge to request the convening of judges to deliberate on the amendment. Earlier, senior puisne Justices Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Athar Minallah had written separate letters to the CJP asking for a full court meeting or judicial conference.

Both resigned have now in protest against the 27th Constitutional Amendment. The full court meeting, led by the CJP, was scheduled at the Supreme Court building before Friday prayers.

Also Read: SC justices Mansoor Ali Shah, Athar Minallah resign over 27th Amendment

Justice Panhwar stated he was writing the letter “not in protest but in … the duty that binds every judge who has sworn to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution.”

He added that “there comes a time when silence is not caution but abdication. I believe such a time may now be upon us.”

Justice Panhwar warned that the amendment may “unsettle the careful balance that the framers intended” and could affect the “security of tenure, the composition of benches, the appointment and removal of judges, or even the financial and administrative autonomy of courts.”