Lawyers vow to resist proposed constitutional amendments

PESHAWAR: Lawyers at a convention here on Saturday rejected proposed constitutional amendments including setting up of a federal constitutional court and pledged that they would fully resist the same.

Through a unanimously adopted resolution, they vowed that they would not accept any amendment that was drafted by ‘someone else’ and said that the parliament would be used only as a rubber stamp to pass it.

“We have to decide whether this country would be run on the whims of the establishment or by that of the people,” they said.

The participants of the convention vowed to launch a sustainable struggle against the amendments and for the protection of the basic structure of the Constitution.

Participants of convention say the move will undo 1973 Constitution

The convention also condemned aggression of Israeli forces in Gaza and Lebanon and called upon Muslim countries to join hands to save their oppressed brothers and sisters in those countries.

The event titled ‘All Pakistan Lawyers Convention’ was organised by Peshawar High Court Bar Association to discuss the proposed constitutional amendments and their affects.

The convention was addressed by former president of Supreme Court Bar Association Hamid Khan, PHC Bar Association president Fida Gul, its general secretary Alam Khan Adenzai, joint secretary Ijaz Ali Shah, president of Mardan Bar Association Noor Badshah, former additional attorney general Mussaratullah Khan, Mohammad Muazzam Butt, Syed Akhter Ali Shah and others.

Oganisers said that owing to closure of roads, leaders from other parts of the country including Lahore, Islamabad and Quetta could not reach Peshawar to attend the convention.

Hamid Khan, who addressed the convention through video link, said that a move was in progress to undo the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan through controversial amendments.

“If lawyers fail to forge unity in their ranks to oppose the amendments, then the Constitution will become redundant,” he said, adding that those amendments were aimed at weakening and dividing the judiciary.

Mr Khan said that those, who were bringing the amendments, were scared of an independent judiciary. “The draft of the proposed constitutional amendments is in conflict with the basic structure of the Constitution,” he said. He added that they would not compromise on the independent of the judiciary.

He stated that legal fraternity was against those proposed changes as these were based on ulterior motives and mala fide intentions.

Mr Khan claimed that the government, which was product of Form-47, feared that it could not continue so it planned to bring the amendments.

Fida Gul said that it was the right of parliament to amend the Constitution, but it did not mean that it would receive draft from somewhere else and would just put a stamp on it.

He said that chief justice of Pakistan was going to retire in the current month and he should attain superannuation with grace.

The PHCBA president said that if senior puisne judge Justice Mansoor Ali Shah was appointed chief justice he would also make decisions in accordance with the Constitution.

He said there was no need of any constitutional court and a bench of judges of the Supreme Court should be constituted for hearing constitutional matters. He said that presently in PHC seven of the offices of judges out of the sanctioned strength of 20 were lying vacant, therefore, the names recommended by the PHC senior judges should be appointed against the vacant slots.

Syed Akhtar Ali Shah wondered how the proposed constitutional court could be independent when its chief justice would be appointed by the prime minister.

He said that the Constitution of Pakistan guaranteed freedom of expression, assembly and movement, but presently containers were placed on major roads curtailing the rights of the people.

He warned of severe impact of the proposed amendment, if passed, on the independence of the judiciary.

Moazzam Butt said that the nation should be informed from where the draft of the proposed amendments emerged.

“This draft was not introduced by PPP or Maulana Fazlur Rehman rather it was the brainchild of establishment,” he said, adding that if the establishment believed that it had support of people then it should hold a referendum in the country.

Noor Badshah said that the country was founded by a lawyer and not by establishment. He urged legal fraternity to remain united at that crucial time to avert the passage of the proposed amendments.

Mussaratullah Khan said that lawyers should put forward their recommendations on the proposed amendments. He said that if the amendments were averse to independence of the judiciary, they would fully resist it.

Published in Dawn, October 6th, 2024