THE Supreme Court of Pakistan (SC) is a hollow shell of what it once was. The 27th Amendment has butchered it so thoroughly; ripped off so much of the flesh that made up its stature, authority and means to exercise independence, that the faint twitches of what’s left evoke a sense of pity. It exists now in the shadow of its replacement — the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC), consisting entirely of judges hand-picked by the executive (this writer’s last column has already detailed how this was a terrible idea).

But what we often miss is that the formerly apex court didn’t take all of this lying down. Between the proposal and passage of the 27th Amendment, the SC managed to extract exactly one concession out of the executive. It succeeded in this endeavour, and the prime minister acknowledged as much in his victory speech, thanking the chief justice of Pakistan for his ‘cooperation’.

The incumbent chief justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Yahya Afridi alone, was allowed to retain the title of ‘chief justice of Pakistan’ (CJP) for the duration of his tenure. No additional powers, nor any retention of those snatched away from him and his successors. Just the title. Just for him. A rose by any other name would have smelled just as sweet, so why did Justice Afridi insist on retaining this one?

To his credit, since then, his lordship has taken a proactive approach to the work he is still able to do. The SC regularly issues press releases about structural reforms, including AI integration. Its website is emblazoned with the fanfare of an MoU signed with Türkiye’s constitutional court. The CJP issued a letter rightly opposing the transfer of some of Islamabad High Court’s best judges on the ground that this would damage the judiciary’s integrity, erode public confidence and give the impression that they’re being punished (which they are).

Scratch the surface though, and you un­­ravel little more than lip service. The press releases are buzzword-loaded niceties that read like they were written by AI themselves. The MoU was a largely ceremonial affair promising exchange visits that have already been happening for years. The sta­­te­ment opposing the transfers was meaningless, given the CJP was already outvo­ted in the Judicial Commission of Pakistan by an executive that has no reason to care about his opinions anymore. And in the context of the SC’s dismemberment, even the most well-intentioned reforms amount to rearranging deck chairs on a Titanic that’s already at the bottom of the sea.

The 26th and 27th Amendments must be repealed.

The elephant in the room is that our country has been deprived of a neutral arbiter with the ability to protect its citizens from the excesses of its rulers. The FCC appointed by those rulers cannot be expected to do so, and the SC no longer has the ability to do so. CJ Afridi addressed this power imbalance in a recent judgement, holding that the SC and FCC are, in fact, equal. That the 27th Amendment has provided each court “exclusive competence over different categories of proceedings, rather than establishing a vertical hierarchy”. This is much like the passenger of a car asserting that he is equal to the driver, because they both possess exclusive competence over different domains — one over the steering wheel, the other over the choice of music. Ironically, even this power over the playlist is not enforceable here. Under the newly amended Article 189, the FCC is wholly unbound by any of the SC’s decisions, and constitutionally entitled to ignore all of them, including this one.

We should all be bothered by the ridiculousness of this state of af­­fai­­rs, and what has been done

to our Supreme Cou­­rt. Not becau­­-

se we grieve for judges, but beca­use this institution is lar­ger than them. It represents the pursuit of a rules-based order in a country where far too often those rules are the only thing standing between us and the aspiring authoritarians who would gladly trample over us in pursuit of their ends.

As of writing this, our fellow citizens are being chucked out of their homes in Islamabad, katchi abadis and elite apartment buildings alike, without the dignity of a notice period to gather their belongings or file appeals. According to HRCP, over 800 people have been killed without trial in six months by Punjab’s Crime Control Department. Imaan Mazari and Hadi Ali Chattha remain imprisoned for the crime of dissent, their appeals still unheard for over 100 days.

None of this would have been possible under an independent judiciary, and for that, the 26th and 27th Amendments must be repealed. Till that day, we are all passengers on a road trip we never signed up for, deprived even of the freedom to change the music. Personally, in such circumstances, if I couldn’t grab the steering wheel, I’d consider exiting the car.

The writer is a lawyer and columnist from Okara, based in Lahore.

X: @hkwattoo1

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2026