Pakistani parliamentary panel chooses judge third on seniority list to head Supreme Court

ISLAMABAD — A parliamentary committee on Tuesday recommended a judge third on the seniority list of a panel of judges to head Pakistan's Supreme Court, government officials said Tuesday, a move that virtually blocked the elevation of the top judge. older and risks further aggravating a persistent political crisis.

As per the constitution, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's government will now formally send a summary to President Asif Ali Zardari to appoint Yahya Afridi as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

Afridi's name was third on the list of a three-judge panel reviewed by a committee.

The government has not given any explanation for ignoring two other judges, Mansoor Ali Shah and Munib Akhtar, for the post of chief justice.

Azam Nazeer Tarar, Minister of Law and Justice, told reporters that the committee had sent Afridi's name with a two-thirds majority to the prime minister.

Jailed former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan's party, which is part of the parliamentary committee, boycotted Tuesday's meeting held in Islamabad to nominate the top judge.

Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, or PTI, favored Shah's nomination as chief justice.

Tuesday's government decision comes days before Chief Justice Qazi Faez Esa is due to retire after completing his term. It also comes a day after Parliament approved controversial amendments to the Constitution, empowering a 12-member parliamentary panel to choose a senior judge to replace the outgoing chief justice.

The government's new amendments have been criticized by Khan's popular opposition party and many lawyers, who have vowed in recent days that they would protest if Shah was not named chief justice.

Ahsan Iqbal, a minister who was part of the parliamentary committee that ultimately chose Afridi, defended the decision. He said the parliamentary committee had decided by majority to appoint Afridi as the chief justice.

But Afridi's appointment is expected to further deepen the political unrest, which began in 2022 after Khan was ousted from power in a vote of no confidence in Parliament.

He has been behind bars since 2023 after his conviction in a corruption case.

Khan has so far been involved in more than 150 cases and has been sentenced in several of them, including three years, 10 years, 14 years and seven years to be served concurrently under Pakistani law. Khan's convictions were later overturned on appeal, but he cannot be released due to other cases pending against him.

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