ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC), the regulatory body of lawyers, at a meeting on Saturday opposed the reinstatement of military courts to try terrorists and decided to challenge the 23rd Amendment in the Supreme Court.

Marred by a walkout by the minority group commonly known as Hamid Khan group, the meeting was held here at the Supreme Court building and presided over by PBC vice chairman Ahsan Bhoon.

The council also decided to nominate Yusuf Leghari to replace Yasin Azad as PBC representative in the Judicial Commission (JC) on May 19 when the latter’s two-year term would expire.

Referring to the 23rd Amendment, Mr Bhoon told Dawn that the council would move a petition before the Supreme Court as had been done by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA).

SCBA president Rasheed A. Rizvi had told reporters on Friday that he would wait before moving an application for early hearing of the case so that other bar councils and lawyers’ associations might join the SCBA in challenging the amendment.

Lawyers’ body condemns lynching of Mashal Khan, says judicial commission must be headed by at least a high court judge

In its petition, the SCBA has said that the 23rd Amendment has effectively abrogated and taken away fundamental rights of people of Pakistan guaranteed by Chapter I of Part II of the Constitution. Therefore, it should be declared that the amendment cannot remain part of the Constitution.

Earlier, military courts were constituted with a two-year sunset clause under the 21st Amendment but then challenged before the Supreme Court. On Aug 5, 2015 by a majority of 11 to six the court had approved the setting up of nine special courts manned by military officers to try hardened militants.

Incorporated through 18th and 19th amendments, the JC has been set up under Article 175-A of the Constitution to appoint superior court judges. The body is headed by chief justice of the Supreme Court and has, among other members, a representative of the PBC, attorney general and federal law minister for a term of two years.

According to Akhtar Hussain, a member of the PBC, Yusuf Leghari, who belongs to Sindh and has nationalist inclinations, has served as vice chairperson of the council. He has been elected member of the council for five times and also appointed advocate general of Sindh.

During the meeting, 10 members of the PBC staged a walkout when a resolution moved by their colleague Barrister Raheel Kamran Sheikh was rejected by the council by a majority of 11.

“We rejected the resolution since we wanted to exhaust the already-circulated agenda of the meeting and that resolution was not part of the items on the list,” Mr Bhoon said. It was the prerogative of the council to reject any suggestion of a member, he added.

The resolution emphasised the need for ensuring transparency in the process of nomination for appointment of superior courts judges. Mr Sheikh suggested that regardless of whichever group one belonged to, the PBC representative in the JC should act fairly and in a non-partisan manner and must take the PBC into confidence over nominations of individuals to be elevated as superior court judges.

Therefore an amendment to the rules and procedures of the Judicial Commission should be introduced accordingly, the resolution said.

Similarly, it said, PBC representative should communicate immediately to all members of the council about the nominations being discussed for the appointment of superior court judges. In case two-thirds members through a resolution object to appointment of a particular nominee on the grounds of competence or integrity, the same should be placed before the JC.

However, the council decided not to consider the resolution and rejected it.

The PBC also condemned the horrendous incident in which Mashal Khan, a university student, was lynched on blasphemy charges and demanded that a judicial commission to be constituted by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government should be headed at least by a judge of the Peshawar High Court.

Published in Dawn, April 16th, 2017