ISLAMABAD - Renowned lawyers of Supreme Court and senior members of the Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan (SCBAP) Wednesday issued a public statement strongly opposing the proposed constitutional package and urged SCBAP and PBC to reject the same.
Some 73 senior lawyers including former SCBAP President Munir A Malik, Iftikharuddin Riaz, Abid Saqi, Faisal Siddiqui, Mian Muhammad Kashif and others issued the public statement.
The lawyers said that they, the undersigned, are Advocates of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and members of SCBAP and they have come to know that an All Pakistan Lawyers Representative meeting has been called by the Executive Committee of the SCBAP on 18 September 2024, in connection with the recent proposals for amendments to the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973 (Constitution).
The statement said that in this regard, they wish to place their position on record, which is that they strongly reject the proposed amendments and the Amendment Bill completely.
It added, “This is not only because of the content of the proposed amendments, which will fundamentally alter the basic structure of the Constitution in various respects and undermine the entire judicial system, but also because we believe that the current Federal Government and Parliament lack the legitimacy and the mandate to make any amendments to the Constitution. Moreover, the clandestine manner in which the Bill was sought to be pushed through Parliament without making it public or even sharing it with Parliamentarians shows that some force other than the representatives of the people are driving this for the benefit of certain vested interests.
“Accordingly, we reject the proposed amendments and urge the members of the executive committee of the SCBAP, Pakistan Bar Council, and other representative bodies to do the same. To the extent the executive committee of the SCBAP and other representative bodies take a different position, we clarify that they do not speak for us,” maintained the statement.