Pakistan parliamentary panel picks Justice Yahya Afridi as next chief justice

ISLAMABAD: A 12-member special parliamentary committee, tasked with choosing a name for the new chief justice, on Tuesday picked Justice Yahya Afridi for the key post, Pakistan’s Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said, as the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party lawmakers boycotted the committee’s proceedings.
The committee, which was formed under the contentious 26th constitutional amendment on Monday, was required to pick a name out of the three senior-most judges of the Supreme Court for the post of the chief justice.
Pakistan’s incumbent top judge, Qazi Faez Isa, is set to retire on Friday. The three senior-most judges considered for the key post included Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Yahya Afridi.
“As per the constitutional requirement, the nomination of Justice Yahya Afridi has been dispatched to the prime minister with two-thirds of majority [of the committee members],” Tarar told reporters in Islamabad.
The development came after the first round of the in-camera meeting of the parliamentary panel, which was earlier postponed as PTI’s Gohar Khan and Senator Ali Zafar boycotted the proceedings.
The contentious constitutional amendment passed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif-led ruling coalition has generated a heated debate in the country, with opposition parties and prominent lawyers alleging the new law aims to curtail the judiciary’s independence.
The government rejects these allegations and says the amendments are aimed at empowering Pakistan’s parliament and providing speedy justice to the country’s citizens by allowing the establishment of constitutional courts among other changes.
Legal experts say there are some clauses in the 26th constitutional amendment that are “problematic,” but it is much better than what was being anticipated.
“There are certain clauses that on the face of it seem to be curtailing the powers of the judiciary. We have also seen that in the past decade or so, judges have misused the power to appoint judges. They have appointed certain judges that were their own favorites,” lawyer Osama Malik told Arab News.
“They deliberately appointed some judges earlier than other judges that they could then become chief justices of the country. The seniority was managed by the senior most judges of the supreme court and that was causing serious problems for everyone. Now perhaps some balance will be found and if not, we will have to rectify it again.”