Who will be the next CJP after 26th constitutional amendment?

As ruling allies work to implement the 26 constitutional amendments related to judicial practices, rising political chaos raises questions about who will succeed Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa, who is set to retire on October 25.

The current situation gives the ruling coalition only six days to unify all lawmakers. The Supreme Court will lack leadership if the Chief Justice is not appointed by then.

The authorities would have to go through a long process if the draft of the judicial amendment was approved by the upper and lower houses.

According to the constitutional package, following the retirement of CJP Isa, three names of senior Judges, including Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Munib Akhtar, and Justice Yahya Afridi, are in queue for the top post.

A 12-member committee consisting of eight MNAs and four senators with the majority of treasury bench members will consider a name of a Judge from three for the CJP post, and it will be sent to the Prime Minister.

Following the approval of the premier, the name will be sent to the President of Pakistan, and if it is rejected, the most senior judge will be considered by the committee and so on till the appointment of the CJP.

According to the sources, if the constitutional amendments were approved, the names of the three judges would be sent to the premier three days after CJP Isa’s retirement, which seems difficult to happen, as the coalition has failed to receive Maulana Fazlur Rehman's support yet.

On the other hand, despite the repeated demand of the speaker national assembly, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, the reserved seats were not allocated yet, which were given to PTI as well. The amendments could not be approved without allocating the seats.

It seems that the said long process could not be completed within six days.

Sources indicate that if seniority is not adhered to in the Chief Justice of Pakistan's nomination process and new legal practices and procedures are introduced, Justice Yahya Afridi could be a strong candidate for the position of CJP, because, he has "maintained a non-controversial and neutral stance during times of deep division among the apex court judges".