ISLAMABAD, FEB 10 (DNA): The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) is set to convene today to deliberate on the appointment of eight judges to the Supreme Court.
The meeting — chaired by Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi — will consider five senior judges from each of the four high courts.
It is expected that two judges each from the Sindh and Islamabad High Courts and one judge each from the Peshawar and Balochistan High Courts will be elevated to the Supreme Court.
However, ahead of the meeting, four Supreme Court judges, including two commission members, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Munib Akhtar, have requested the postponement of the session.
The letter, also penned by Justice Ayesha A Malik and Justice Athar Minallah, called for the JCP meeting to be deferred “till the challenge to the 26th Constitutional Amendment is decided one way or the other”.
The JCP’s existing members, following the 26th Amendment, include CJP Afridi, Justice Shah, Justice Akhtar, Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan, Attorney General for Pakistan Mansoor Usman Awan, Federal Minister for Law and Justice Azam Nazir Tarar and representative of Pakistan Bar Council Akhtar Hussain along with members of parliament from both treasury and opposition benches.
Additionally, the commission’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) affiliated member, Senator Ali Zafar, has also conditionally called for the meeting’s deferral.
Meanwhile, six leading bar associations have rejected calls for protests and strikes against the JCP session.
In a joint statement, representatives of the Pakistan Bar Council, Supreme Court Bar Association, Punjab Bar Council, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council, Balochistan High Court Bar Association, and Sindh High Court Bar Association condemned the opposition to the meeting.
They accused certain political groups within the legal community of attempting to advance their controversial agendas through such protests.
The statements reiterated full support for the JCP’s proceedings, asserting that the commission’s composition remains well-balanced.
The bar associations also endorsed the 26th Constitutional Amendment and subsequent legislation, considering them integral parts of the Constitution.
They further asserted that only representative bodies have the authority to call for a strike.
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