ISLAMABAD: PPP stalwart Farooq H. Naek has resigned from the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) — a constitutional body which appoints judges in the superior judiciary.

“Yes, I have resigned from the body [due to] personal commitments,” the senator, who has also served as chairman of the upper house of Parliament, told Dawn.

In a one-page letter addressed to Senate Chairman Yousuf Raza Gilani, as well as Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, who is the leader of the house in the Senate, Naek expressed gratitude at being appointed a member of the JCP from the treasury benches.

He said that it was a “great honour and privilege” for him to serve as a member of the JCP.

Naek had participated in a number of JCP proceedings to appoint judges for different high courts as well as the Supreme Court.

As a lawyer, he represented PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari before the SC in the presidential reference moved by the latter’s father, President Asif Ali Zardari, in the murder case of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

He also appeared in several constitutional petitions before the SC, including cases concerning reserved seats, amendments to the accountability laws, presidential immunities and provincial assembly disputes.

Although he remained associated with the PPP for three decades, he shot to prominence when he defended late former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and Zardari in a number of corruption and criminal cases during former military dictator Pervez Musharraf’s rule.

As a law minister, he also defended the then-federal government in the infamous graft case against Zardari, but eventually dispatched a letter to Swiss Legal authorities in line with SC directions in the National Reconciliation Order case in November 2012 to reopen the case.

Naek has served as a senator from Sindh since 2003. He was appointed the law minister after the 2008 general elections, and reappointed in April 2012 after his three-year term as Senate chairman.