Overview
- A letter from 38 former Supreme Court law clerks warns the draft 27th Constitutional Amendment could be a death knell for the Supreme Court and urges an immediate full-court meeting.
- Justice Athar Minallah’s October 8 letter, now public, labels the moment a reckoning for the judiciary and asks Chief Justice Yahya Afridi to gather judges in a judicial conference.
- Minallah alleges external interference in courts is an undeniable reality and says accountability has been used to pressure judges who refuse to comply.
- Reporting on the draft says it would create Federal Constitutional Courts, allow executive oversight of judicial transfers, reintroduce executive magistrates, and alter Article 243 by reshaping military leadership and protections.
- Senior lawyers and retired judges denounce the plan as a political device to weaken the courts, invoking past Supreme Court rulings that affirmed the duty to safeguard judicial independence.