Justice Mansoor Ali Shah to be country's next chief justice: PPP chief

Amid prevailing ambiguity surrounding the next chief justice against the backdrop of prospective constitutional amendment, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has cleared the air saying Justice Mansoor Ali Shah would be the next top judge.

Speaking to a private news channel, Bilawal said: "On October 26, Justice Mansoor will become the next chief justice — no doubt."

His remarks come after the incumbent ruling coalition postponed tabling the "controversial" constitutional package in parliament despite repeated claims of securing the "magic number" needed to push the bill through. 

The government has yet to table the amendments in Parliament due to the lack of support from Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman.

Incumbent CJP Qazi Faez Isa is set to retire in October this year. As his retirement draws near, the government has ramped up its efforts to introduce constitutional amendments — which allegedly included provisions for extending judges' retirement age and CJP Isa's tenure.

However, after failing to convince the JUI-F chief, senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Senator Irfan Siddiqui told Geo News earlier that the government’s bid to table the constitutional package had been "postponed indefinitely".

Speaking to the private news channel, Bilawal regretted that neither the parliament was functioning properly, nor the judiciary. “We waited almost 50 years for justice in Shaheed [Zulfiqar Ali] Bhutto’s murder case.”

He pointed out that the Supreme Court's workload consists of 15% of the political cases, which he said consumed 90% of its time, stressing the need for judicial reforms in the country.

“Under the Charter of Democracy, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission still remains unformed,” he said, adding that they had promised to bring reforms in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and judiciary.

Bilawal also said that his party wanted Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to play a positive role as the Opposition, regretting that Imran Khan's recent statement on X (formerly Twitter) sabotaged the engagement.

"It is difficult for [the government] to discuss constitutional amendments with PTI along with its input," he added.

Meanwhile, the PPP Chairman, while speaking on the Geo News programme "Capital Talk", admitted that the government lacks "numbers" in the parliament.

"PPP will prepare its draft regarding the formation of the constitutional court and will share it with Maulana Fazl," he said.

Furthermore, the former foreign minister said that JUI-F was also chalking out its own draft for the same. "Efforts will be made to reach consensus on a joint draft."

He noted that Fazl was insisting on taking opposition parties, especially PTI, on board regarding the package.