Senior lawyers urge Justice Qazi Faez Isa to resign on Oct 25

Senior lawyers, including the president of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), have strongly opposed the secretive constitutional package proposed by the government and called upon Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa to hang his robes with honour on October 25, 2024.

In a letter signed by senior advocates Muneer A. Malik and Faisal Siddiqi, lawyers stressed that Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah will deservedly be the next CJP on the dawn of October 26.

In the letter, they also urged Justice Isa to “preserve his legacy and not be a nominee for any appointment for any proposed constitutional bench.”

Both senior advocates recalled that they had acted as legal counsels or supported Justice Isa through their writings against the “unconstitutional and mala fide presidential reference filed against the then Justice Qazi Faez Isa” in 2019.

SCBA president Shehzad Shaukat cautioned against the secrecy with which the coalition government was trying to pass the supposed amendments and not bringing it to designated forums for open discussion.

Shaukat pointed out that the SCBA is unlikely to oppose the proposed amendment if it relates to the creation of a constitutional court, which, according to him, is necessary for dispensing justice to common people because the Supreme Court is mostly busy hearing cases of a political nature.