27th Amendment could ‘spell death knell’ for SC

Supreme Court Justice Athar Minallah and 38 former SC law clerks have written to CJP Yahya Afridi, urging him to convene a judicial convention and warning that the proposed 27th Constitutional Amendment poses a grave threat to judicial independence, with the clerks describing it as potentially “spelling the final death knell of the Supreme Court”.

In his letter, Justice Minallah expressed dismay over the erosion of fundamental rights and the judiciary’s internal compromises.

The development comes as the government moves to push the 27th Constitutional Amendment, which has already been passed by the Senate and proposes significant changes to several articles, mainly concerning the judiciary and military leadership.

In a seven-page letter, Justice Minallah described his letter as a solemn duty to the Constitution and a record for future generations of how their destiny was being shaped within the walls of the highest court.

“I had taken an oath to defend, protect and preserve the Constitution but find myself helpless because the fundamental rights covenanted to the people have too often been reduced to mere cliché or rhetoric,” he wrote, calling the situation “unpleasant and embarrassing” for a judge of the highest court.

He observed that the independence of the judiciary has too often been compromised from within, whether through “surrender or active participation”.

Justice Minallah said institutions take time to build but can be quickly undermined through fear, surrender, or submission to authority. He acknowledged that the judiciary’s history has flaws, but stressed that past mistakes cannot justify its continued control by unelected elites. As a sitting Supreme Court judge, he said he felt compelled to speak out about the erosion of public trust.

Justice Minallah also revealed that a former chief justice of Pakistan, during discussions on the reserved seats case, had warned 12 judges that he had “stalled the imposition of martial law” and cautioned that “they would come and send us home”.

Justice Minallah’s communication follows similar letters by Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Advocate Faisal Siddiqi, and 38 former Supreme Court law clerks, all urging CJP Afridi to take an institutional stance against the 27th Amendment, which they warn poses a grave threat to judicial independence.

The other letter penned by former clerks stated, "As former law clerks of the Supreme Court we believe that the independence of the judiciary currently faces a threat far graver than the one it faced in 2007 The greatest threat to an independent judiciary is judges willing to capitulate their independence".

The signatories — including lawyers Mirza Moiz Baig, Umer Gilani, Hareem Godil, Alizeh Akbar Meer, and others — described the amendment as an unprecedented threat and urged the CJP to immediately convene a Full Court meeting to formulate an institutional response.

The former clerks reminded the Chief Justice that the apex court, through its landmark rulings — Sindh High Court Bar Association vs Federation of Pakistan (PLD 2009 SC 879) and District Bar Association Rawalpindi vs Federation of Pakistan (PLD 2015 SC 401) — had reaffirmed the judiciary’s constitutional duty to preserve the separation of powers and safeguard its independence.

Read: Letters flood SC urging response

Even yesterday, letters were penned down — one endorsed by senior lawyers and retired judges — have denounced the amendment as a “political device to weaken and control the judiciary” and the “most radical restructuring of the Supreme Court since the Government of India Act, 1935”.

They noted that the 27th Amendment “seeks to subjugate the judiciary under the garb of reform” and urged the Chief Justice to resist it “in line with the court’s historical role as a bulwark against executive and legislative excesses”.

The proposed 27th Constitutional Amendment seeks sweeping changes to Pakistan’s judicial, administrative, and federal structures. It envisages the creation of Federal Constitutional Courts in Islamabad and the provinces, empowers the executive to oversee judicial transfers, and reintroduces executive magistrates — measures that critics say would severely curtail judicial independence.

The draft also proposes changes to Article 243 of the Constitution, including the abolition of the post of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, the creation of a new Chief of Defence Forces, and the granting of lifetime tenure and immunity to military chiefs.

Read More: Judiciary weighs response to 27th Amendment

Appealing to CJP Afridi’s own role in the 2007–09 lawyers’ movement, the letter said, “You are in the unique position of immortalising your name in the annals of judicial history. Your actions today will dictate whether you will be known as the Chief Justice who stood as a bulwark against the Supreme Court’s destruction or as one who buried the Supreme Court”.

The letter concludes with a stark warning, “We stand on the edge of the precipice. It’s now or never”.

The communication, signed by 38 former clerks of the Supreme Court, comes amid growing opposition within the legal community to the proposed 27th Amendment, which critics argue aims to curtail the judiciary’s autonomy and restructure Pakistan’s judicial system under greater executive control.