Pakistan adopts constitutional amendments aimed at courts

Pakistan's government on Monday narrowly passed constitutional amendments giving lawmakers more power to appoint top judges, who recently issued a series of rulings in favor of opposition leader Imran Khan.

Since February elections marred by allegations of rigging, relations have deteriorated between Islamabad and the highest courts, with rulings challenging the results supporting the party of imprisoned ex-prime minister Khan.

The 72-year-old former cricket star was barred from running and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party claimed the courts had been used to sideline his extremely popular.

Under judicial reforms passed in a morning parliamentary session, Pakistan's chief justice will now be chosen by a parliamentary committee and have a fixed term of three years.

The amendments come just days before the retirement of Supreme Court Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa.

Under the previous law, he would have been automatically replaced by the most senior judge, currently Mansoor Ali Shah, who has consistently delivered verdicts found favorable to Khan and his party.

New benches will also be formed of senior judges from across the country to weigh exclusively on constitutional issues, which have been at the heart of recent disputes between the government and the PTI at the Supreme Court.

As the bill was passed before dawn, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said it was “a historic day… affirming the supremacy of Parliament.”

– 'Folding judicial system' –

“These amendments amount to stifling a free judiciary. They do not represent the people of Pakistan,” said PTI's Omar Ayub Khan, leader of the opposition in the National Assembly.

“A fraudulently formed government cannot amend the constitution,” he said during the session.

Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz secured a two-thirds majority with the support of its long-time rival turned supply-and-demand partner, the Pakistan People's Party.

The government secured 225 votes of the required 224 with crucial support from a handful of rebel PTI lawmakers, state media broadcasting the session showed.

The PTI, the largest parliamentary group, refused to back the package despite offers to water down the amendments and reach a consensus deal, analysts said.

Analyst Bilal Gilani, who heads Pakistan's main polling agency, said the amendments brought some “victories”, including balancing the activism of the judiciary.

“A more sinister aspect of this amendment creates a more flexible justice system in the face of government concerns,” he added.

On Monday, the English-language newspaper Dawn predicted that the law could intensify confrontation between the branches of the state.

“Given long-standing feuds and divisions…the changes could trigger a new confrontation between the legal community and the government,” read an editorial.

– Victories and defeats –

Sharif leads a fragile coalition government that enjoys the support of the powerful military – although Khan's MPs won the most seats in February's elections.

In July, the Supreme Court ruled that the Election Commission of Pakistan was wrong to exclude Khan's party from the campaign by forcing its MPs to run as independents due to a technical violation.

It also granted Khan's party a handful of unelected seats reserved for women and religious minorities, which would give Khan's party the largest number of parliamentarians.

Other courts have also overturned Khan's personal convictions or sentences.

And earlier this year, six judges of Pakistan's High Court accused the country's intelligence services of intimidating and coercing them in “politically important” cases.

Khan remains extremely popular and continues to challenge the establishment with frequent protests, although he languishes in prison on charges he says are politically motivated.

He was ousted from power in a vote of no confidence in 2022 after analysts said he had fallen out of favor with the generals.

He led a campaign of defiance against the military – a major red line in a country that has seen decades of military rule – that ended in a harsh crackdown on its leaders and supporters.

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