Lawyers, citizens commend judges who resigned over 27th Amendment

ISLAMABAD: Prominent lawyers, rights activists and citizens have lauded the three judges who resigned in protest against the 27th Constitutional Amendment, praising their decision to uphold their constitutional oath rather than “cling to office and privilege”.

Supreme Court Justices Mansoor Ali Shah and Athar Minallah stepped down on Nov 13, hours after President Asif Ali Zardari signed the controversial amendment into law. Justice Shah described the amendment as “a grave assault on the Constitution of Pakistan”, while Justice Minallah said he had sworn allegiance not to “a constitution” but “the Constitution”.

Two days later, Lahore High Court Justice Shams Mehmood Mirza also resigned, saying he could not continue in good conscience after the amendment’s passage.

In a collective statement published in Dawn on Saturday, 60 lawyers and citizens paid tribute to the judges, stating:

“We mourn not the resignations of Justices Shah, Minallah and Mirza — they have etched their names among the few national heroes who prized principle over expediency — but the demise of the Supreme Court and the high courts, and the extinguishment of the last embers of an independent judiciary.”

Signatories included prominent lawyers Abid S. Zuberi, Jibran Nasir, Imaan Mazari, Asad Rahim, Sardar Latif Khosa, Salman Akram Raja, Zainab Janjua, Faisal Siddiqui, Salahuddin Ahmed, and political leader Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar.

The statement described Justice Shah as one of Pakistan’s “finest jurists”, noting his unmatched commitment to judicial reform and modernising the justice system.
“It is our nation’s misfortune,” it said, “that we sacrificed him at the altar of short-term political expediency.”

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Justice Minallah was praised for being a steadfast voice for the weak, victims of enforced disappearances, journalists under pressure, political opponents targeted by the state, and judges intimidated by intelligence agencies. His transformation of the Islamabad High Court into a “citadel of judicial independence” was also highlighted.

Regarding Justice Mirza, the statement said he epitomised constitutional steadiness and integrity, refusing to allow fundamental rights to become casualties of turbulent times.
By choosing “judicial defiance over judicial silence”, it said, he ensured his place in history as the only high court judge to resign over what the statement termed the “pseudo 27th Amendment”.

The signatories criticised those in power for castigating the judges “not for their own sins but for resisting the sins of others,” adding that the judges’ steadfast refusal to compromise had become “a spark to the conscience of a nation”.