Editorial
The independence of the judiciary is the soul of any democratic state. Yet, in Pakistan, the promise of an impartial and courageous judiciary—revived during the 2007 lawyers’ movement—has largely faded. This reality was recently echoed by Supreme Court Justice Athar Minallah and 38 former law clerks, who have warned that the proposed 27th Constitutional Amendment poses an existential threat to judicial autonomy. Justice Minallah’s open letter to Chief Justice Yahya Afridi described the amendment as a “final death knell” for the Supreme Court, exposing deep institutional decay.
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Justice Minallah lamented that fundamental rights have been reduced to rhetoric and that the judiciary’s independence has been eroded not just by external pressures but also by internal compromises—judges “surrendering” to authority. His words echo a painful truth: the judiciary, which once stood as a bulwark against dictatorship, now struggles under the weight of its own silence and complicity.
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The letter also recalled an alarming revelation: a former chief justice once told his colleagues he had “stalled martial law” and warned them they could be “sent home.” This reflects the dangerous intimacy between judicial conduct and political power—a pattern that history has punished repeatedly in Pakistan.
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The 38 clerks, joined by jurists and retired judges, warned that the 27th Amendment—seeking to create Constitutional Courts, empower the executive over judicial transfers, and alter military command—amounts to a “political device” to subjugate the judiciary under reform’s disguise. Their appeal to CJP Afridi is not just a legal plea but a moral test of leadership reminiscent of 2007.
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Justice Minallah’s bold stand is a reminder that institutions fall not from force but from surrender. Unless the judiciary reclaims its independence, Pakistan risks losing the very foundation of constitutional democracy.
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