• Bench set to decide whether case will be heard by full court or eight-judge bench
• Justice Aminuddin warns lawyers who ‘speak briefly in court and extensively outside for publicity’

ISLAMABAD: The eight-judge constitutional bench of the Supreme Court on Tuesday unanimously allowed live stream of hearings on challenges to the 26th Constitution Amendment.

“We have heard the counsel for the petitioners and we have unanimously decided to accept the applications for the live streaming of the court proceedings in the 26th Amendment case,” observed Justice Aminuddin Khan, who headed the constitutional bench, after a brief deliberation among the other members of the bench outside Courtroom No. 1, where the hearings were held due to seating capacity and the availability of facilities such as live telecast equipment.

The bench will now resume hearing on Wednesday. Before proceeding further, the court will first determine whether the challenges to the 26th Amendment should be heard by a full court comprising all available SC judges or by the same eight-judge constitutional bench.

Justice Khan, however, offered a word of caution to the counsel representing several petitioners. “You [cou­nsel] have to manage things from the other side of the rostrum,” he said, implicitly urging them to maintain decorum during the hearing.

“We all have to create a positive image of the proceedings since we both are serving the nation as is our duty,” he added, advising the counsel to avoid the practice of speaking for five minutes inside the courtroom and then for 20 minutes outside for public consumption.

Earlier, during the hearing, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail stressed the need for self-discipline but regretted that “ironically, we are in the habit of misusing facilities. It is our experience that live streaming ends up expo­sing ourselves”. He asked the lawyers not to misuse any relief granted to them. While all lawyers representing their clients supported live streaming of the proceedings, Additional Attorney General (AAG) Chaudhry Aamir Rehman referred to the 2023 Justice Qazi Faez Isa case, reminding the bench that any decision regarding live streaming should be taken by the judges themselves on the administrative side rather than through a judicial order.

“It is okay with you if we retire and decide amongst ourselves outside the bench to allow or not to allow live telecast, but if we decide the same matter here inside the court, your answer to this is the 2023 judgement,” observed Justice Ayesha A. Malik, another member of the bench.

Petitioner and senior counsel Salahuddin Ahmed began his arguments in favour of live streaming by recalling how the 26th Amendment was passed “in the dark of the night”. He argued that it would be in the interest of justice and transparency for the judicial process to be conducted in public view, given that the matter affects every citizen of the country.

He cited several precedents, including hearings in Practice and Procedure, election symbol, Monal, F-9 Park tree-cutting and reserved seats cases, to stress that the significance of the present case far exceeds those matters.

“You want the live stream to be conducted under the glaring light of the sun,” quipped Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan.

Advocates Hamid Khan, Khwaja Ahmad Hosain, Faisal Siddiqi, Abid Shahid Zuberi and Shahbaz Khosa also supported Mr Ahmed’s arguments.

Mustafa Khokhar’s appeal

Meanwhile, the CB ordered its office to fix the appeal moved by Tehreek-i-Tahaffuz-i-Ayeen-i-Pakistan vice chairman Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, through his counsel Shahid Jameel, along with the main cases, against the office order returning his plea.

Mr Khokhar had sought a declaration that any administrative act or explanation negating or obstructing the implementation of the committee’s Oct 31 order was unlawful and of no legal effect.

The petition was filed against the backdrop of an Aug 20 letter jointly written by senior puisne judge Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Munib Akhtar in response to the Supreme Court’s decision to make public the committee’s Oct 31, 2024, minutes. Those minutes called for a full court hearing to determine the vires of the 26th Amendment.

Published in Dawn, October 8th, 2025