Pakistan to establish new Constitutional Court following resignation of two Supreme Court judges.\
The bills related to the 27th Amendment to the Constitution were first passed in the Senate and then in the National Assembly, and were approved with the consent of two-thirds of the members of parliament.
According to this amendment, the President of Pakistan will have lifelong immunity, the leadership structure of the armed forces will be changed, and a new court will be established with the aim of reducing the burden on the judiciary and providing speedy access to justice for the people. Representatives affiliated with the opposition party, especially Imran Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf Party, strongly protested these amendments and ultimately boycotted voting sessions in the Senate and National Assembly.
Opposition leaders and some judges of the Supreme Court of Pakistan claim that this government action is an attack on democracy and the independence of the judiciary; at the same time, government officials also say that strengthening the military leadership structure, further empowering parliament, and helping speed up justice are among the main goals of the recent amendment to the country’s constitution.
According to this report, Pakistan has established a court called the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) for the first time in its history, and its chief justice, Justice Aminuddin Khan, was sworn in today (Friday) in the presence of Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari.
Simultaneously with this development, two senior judges of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Athar Manullah, have resigned from their posts to show their protest against the approval of new amendments to the constitution.
According to the two Pakistani judges, the approval of the constitutional amendment will harm the independence of the Supreme Court and increase the influence of the government in the judiciary, which is considered a challenge to equal justice.
Among other measures taken by the Pakistani government through the new constitutional amendment is the abolition of the post of Joint Staff Committee and the army chief will simultaneously hold the position of Chief of Defence Staff (Armed Forces).
Now, according to this new law, Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, the current commander of the Pakistani army, is also the head of the country’s defense forces, and his term of service will be five years. Due to the implementation of the new law, his new term of service began yesterday and will end in November 2030.