The Islamabad High Court (IHC) ruled on Thursday that Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri’s elevation to the superior court was “without lawful authority”, declaring that he “ceased to hold” the office of the IHC judge forthwith.

A division bench led by Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar and Justice Muhammad Azam Khan issued the judgment, which was reserved earlier today, on a plea that challenged the legitimacy of Justice Jahangiri’s law degree and appointment as a judge.

Political figures and lawyers came out and assailed the IHC ruling, stating that the “case and bench had no merit to be heard”, while standing in solidarity with Jahangiri.

PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan called Jahangiri’s removal an “unprecedented and troubling move” in a post on X.

“I take strong exception to the order. It further erodes judicial independence,” he wrote. “The constitutional oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution becomes meaningless if judges are unable to protect and defend themselves within their own court.”

Gohar noted that this was not the first case in which judges have been unceremoniously removed from their offices, but urged that this be the last one. He also demanded the restoration of Justice Jahangiri.

PTI lawyer Naeem Haider Panjhuta took to X and said that Jahangiri ‘s “degree became fake” when he “refused to open three constituencies”.

“Under Article 209 of the Constitution, only the Supreme Judicial Council has the authority to remove any judge of a High Court or the Supreme Court,” Panjhuta wrote.

“Not a judge of any high Court, and that judge must be one whose seniority has been challenged by the affected judge, who is sitting in the light of the 26th Amendment.”

In a post on X, lawyer Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir lamented that an “ honest and brave judge was sent home for upholding his oath.

“This is a stain that cannot be erased. This is the result of the twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh amendments,” she wrote. “If the lawyers let the lion of the judiciary become a martyr today, then tomorrow, when everyone’s turn comes in the jungle, no one should complain. Such a country cannot function.”

She added that lawyers need to come out onto the streets in protest of the ruling.

“In what words will the judges of this division bench be remembered? Everyone knows.”

Lawyer Hadi Ali Chatta, who is married to Imaan, also expressed solidarity with Jahangiri in a post on X

“Justice Jahangiri will remain ever alive, but those who attacked him will keep hiding their cowardly faces.”

Digital activist Usama Khilji also condemned the removal of Justice Jahangir, writing: “Bit by bit, whatever good is left in the judiciary in Pakistan is being completely dismantled — [the] question is how long will we continue to let this happen to us?”

Barrister Ahsan J Pirzada said that there was no “legal, ethical or constitutional justification for the ‘transferred’ judges of Islamabad High Court to hear or decide [the] manufactured case against honourable Justice Jahangiri”.

“This just goes to show how rotten the system has become, on one hand, 16 years old son of a ‘transferred’ judge can get away with killing two young women and on the other hand, the ‘transferred’ judges are absolutely comfortable and willing to humiliate their own institution by playing a role which is both questionable & unconstitutional,” he wrote, referring to an incident in which two women were killed by a car allegedly driven by an IHC justice’s son.