The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) approved on Monday the appointment of six new judges to the Supreme Court amid a boycott by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers and two senior SC judges.
According to a press release issued by the JCP today, a meeting was held under the chairmanship of Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi to consider the nominations for appointment of high court judges in the SC and, by a majority of its total membership, nominated six judges.
The chief justices of all high courts, except the Lahore High Court (LHC) were among the six judges nominated. These included Justice Muhammad Hashim Khan Kakar, Justice Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui, Justice Salahuddin Panhwar, Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim, Justice Shakeel Ahmad and Justice Aamer Farooq.
The Commission, also by majority of its total membership, nominated IHC’s Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb for appointment as the Acting Judge of the Supreme Court.
Last month, the judicial commission rescheduled its meeting to Feb 10 from Feb 11 to consider filling eight vacant posts of judges at the apex court.
The JCP, which approves judicial appointments, was reconstituted to include four parliamentarians under the 26th Constitutional Amendment, bringing numerous changes to the judiciary.
Today’s meeting was boycotted by PTI’s Barrister Gohar Ali Khan and Senator Ali Zafar, and two SC judges, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Munib Akhtar. The PTI chairman said that the meeting should have been postponed until the cases against the 26th Amendment were decided.
