The newly-formed Special Parliamentary Committee (SPC) will nominate the next Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) today.
Originally, after current CJP Qazi Faez Isa— who will retire on Octobe 25—, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah is set to assume the role. However, now the 26th Constitutional Amendment has been passed.
Under this amendment instead of the president appointing the “most senior judge of the Supreme Court” as the Chief Justice of Pakistan, the top judge will now be “appointed on the recommendation of the Special Parliamentary Committee from amongst the three most senior SC judges.”
After Justice Shah, the next two senior Supreme Court judges are Justices Munib Akhtar and Yahya Afridi.
Members of the committee who will decide the name of new Chief Justice of Pakistan
PML-N’s Khawaja Asif, Ahsan Iqbal, Shaista Pervaiz Malik and Senator Azam Nazeer Tarar; PPP’s Raja Pervez Ashraf, Naveed Qamar and Senator Farooq H. Naek; Sunni Ittehad Council’s Hamid Raza; PTI-affiliated MNA Gohar Khan and Senator Ali Zafar; Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan MNA Rana Ansar; and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl’s Senator Kamran Murtaza are included in this special Parliamentary Committee
However, PTI leader Zulfi Bukhari said: “We will not be part of any parliamentary committee. We believe not only the amendments but in the manner they were passed it self was illegal.”
Under the recent amendment, the committee will send the nominee’s name to Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif, who will then forward the name to President Asif Ali Zardari for the appointment.
