QUETTA: Senior lawyers from Balochistan have opposed the proposed 26th constitutional amendment and warned of countrywide protests if the government doesn’t withdraw its decision to table the legislation in the parliament.

Speaking at the joint press conference, Lawyers’ Joint Action Committee leaders said the Constitution was a social contract, and the public should have the authority to decide changes being made to it.

Ex-president of Supreme Court Bar Association Ali Ahmed Kurd, Pakistan Bar Council’s Rahib Ahmed Buledi and Balochistan Bar Association president Muhammad Afzal Harifal addressed the media.

They said lawyers had consistently raised their voices against dictators and martial law “even when political parties remained silent”.

Kurd says govt lacks legitimacy to amend Constitution

“The most powerful pressure group in Pakistan is the lawyers, supported by civil society, students, and various segments of society,” Mr Kurd added.

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They said most clauses in the constitutional amendment were related to the judiciary, and therefore, bar associations should be consulted on the issue.

“Today, courts are being undermined, and new courts are being created at will by those who lack constitutional legitimacy [and yet] are insisting on amending the Constitution,” Mr Kurd said.

He stressed that the existing Constitution has failed to provide basic rights to the people and that “thousands are missing” in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and other regions.

Across Pakistan, lawyers are resisting the amendments, saying that they will “lead to devastation”.

“If Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the Pakistan People’s Party endorse [these amendments], their democratic credibility will be nullified,” Mr Kurd said, adding the role of JUI-F emir Maulana Fazlur Rehman on this issue was also “commendable”.

Mr Kurd claimed senators were being “blackmailed” to vote in favour of these constitutional amendments.

Advocate Buledi announced that the Karachi Lawyers’ Action Committee has announced a nationwide protest movement and stressed that constitutional amendments which concern the judiciary should be made in consultations with bar associations.

The lawyers also questioned the delay in issuing the notification of Justice Mansoor Ali Shah’s appointment as chief justice when the confirmation of the incumbent top judge, Qazi Faez Isa, was issued 88 days before his term started.

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2024