Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi has convened a full court meeting on Friday to deliberate on the 27th Constitutional Amendment, following multiple requests from Supreme Court judges, including Justice Salahuddin Panhwar, who became the third judge to call for collective discussion on the matter.
Earlier, Justices Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Athar Minallah had also written letters urging the CJP to convene the full court or a judicial conference; however, both judges resigned on Thursday in protest against the amendment.
Justice Panhwar, in his two-page letter, urged the CJP to call the meeting to examine the amendment clause by clause, assessing its compatibility with key constitutional articles governing judicial independence — including Articles 175, 175A, 189, 190, 191, and 209.
Headed by the CJP, the meeting will take place at the Supreme Court building before Friday prayers. Justice Panhwar clarified that his letter was written “not in protest but in the duty that binds every judge to preserve and defend the Constitution.”
He warned that the amendment may alter the “security of tenure, composition of benches, judicial appointments, and financial autonomy,” thereby unsettling the constitutional balance. “Let us test each provision of the amendment by a single question — does it strengthen the judiciary’s independence or diminish it?” he wrote.
Justice Panhwar also recommended consulting the Law and Justice Commission, the National Judicial Policy Making Committee, and the Pakistan Bar Council, describing the bar and bench as “twin guardians of justice.”
Meanwhile, lawyer Asad Rahim Khan filed a petition in the Supreme Court, seeking a declaration that the amendment cannot limit the court’s original jurisdiction under the 1973 Constitution.
This development came hours after President Asif Ali Zardari signed the 27th Constitutional Amendment Bill, 2025, officially enacting it into law.
