———- Parliamentary panel meets again to pick next CJP sans PTI-SIC representation
———- Gohar refuses to attend meeting in line with PTI political committee’ decision, says NA Secretariat
———- Tarar says Committee’s proceedings can continue without PTI
———- Adds panel to convince SIC lawmakers to attend meeting
Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: The Special Parliamentary Committee, constituted for the first time in the country’s his-tory for the appointment of Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP), has agreed on the name of Justice Yayha Afridi’s as the next chief justice of Pakistan, sources told Geo News.
The development came after first round of in-camera meeting of the parliamentary panel comprising government and opposition members held in the afternoon at room no 5 of the Parliament House.
However, the members belonging to the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) skipped the meeting, prompting the committee members to meet again tonight.
In a statement, the National Assembly Secretariat said that the SIC members have taken final decision not to attend the parliamentary panel’s meeting. “The committee has been apprised of the SIC’s deci-sion.”
The secretariat noted that a sub-committee, comprising four members — Ahsan Iqbal, Rana Ansar, Raja Pervez Ashraf and Kamran Murtaza, was constituted to convince the SIC lawmakers to attend the meeting, “but to no avail.”
During their meeting with SIC members, the statement noted, Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said that they would not attend the parliamentary committee’s session in line with the PTI’s political committee deci-sion. Meanwhile, Ahsan Iqbal — while talking to journalists — regretted the SIC’s decision and said that they left no stone unturned in convincing the PTI-backed lawmakers to attend the meeting.
“The committee will decide on the CJP’s name today,” he said, adding that they have the required two-thirds majority for the decision.
He further said that the committee will forward the name to Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs today through NA Secretariat.
Subsequently, the remaining nine committee members reconvened the meeting to nominate the next chief justice.
Speaking to journalists after first round of meeting, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar noted that nine members of the Special Parliamentary Committee attended the proceedings.
He added that the required number is present and the committee’s proceedings would not come to a halt. “However, we are democratic-minded people and the beauty of democracy is to unite every-one.”
The minister said that four committee members were requested to visit PTI-SIC lawmakers’ chambers and convince them to reconsider their decision and attend the meeting.
The government is racing against time to appoint the new top judge as the incumbent CJP Qazi Faez Isa is set to retire on October 25. Under the previous law, the incumbent CJP would have been auto-matically replaced by the senior puisne judge — Justice Mansoor Ali Shah.
However, the method has been changed following the enactment of the contentious 26th Constitu-tional Amendment Bill.
Under amendments to clause 3 of Article 175A, the top judge will now be “appointed on the recom-mendation of the Special Parliamentary Committee from amongst the three most senior judges of Su-preme Court” with two-thirds majority.
After Justice Shah, the next two senior judges were Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Yahya Afridi.
The committee consists of senators Azam Nazeer Tarar from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN), Farooq H Naek from Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Syed Ali Zafar from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and Kamran Murtaza Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F).
Meanwhile, members of the NA from PML-N include Khawaja Asif, Ahsan Iqbal and Shaista Parvez; Raana Ansar from Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), Syed Naveed Qamar and Raja Pervez Ashraf from PPP, and Barrister Gohar Ali Khan and Sahibzada Hamid Raza from the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC).
It may be pointed out that the process for appointment of the new chief justice is required to be com-pleted in the next three days as incumbent CJP Isa is going to retire on October 25.
As per clause 3C of Article 175A, the committee by the majority of not less than two-thirds of its total membership, within 14 days prior to retirement of the CJP would send the nomination. However, the first nomination under clause 3 after commencement of the Constitution (Twenty-sixth) Act 2024 would be sent within three days prior to retirement of the chief justice.
However, the clause (3) of Article 175A also mentioned that if the nominee from amongst three senior most judges declines, the remaining judges from amongst three senior most judges would be consid-ered for nomination.
Earlier, the former ruling party had announced that it would not participate in the Special Parliamen-tary Committee meeting.
The decision was announced by PTI Central Information Secretary Waqas Akram following the party’s political committee meeting.
