Gohar asks CJP to fix pleas against 26th Amendment for hearing

PESHAWAR: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan on Thursday demanded the Chief Justice of Pakistan that petitions related to the 26th Constitutional Amendment be fixed for hearing before the full bench of the Supreme Court. Talking to reporters outside the Peshawar High Court, he said that now even the judges of the Supreme Court themselves have stated that justice was not being done with them and that cases are being listed without fulfilling the requirements of justice.

He noted that Supreme Court judges had written a letter to the chief justice of Pakistan, while judges of the Islamabad High Court had also written one. “Judicial independence requires that judges not be pressured and that their families remain safe. If judges themselves say they are being denied justice and cases are fixed without due process, then what the public will say?” he questioned.

Barrister Gohar argued that Pakistan’s judiciary had always been controversial, but the 26th Amendment was the greatest hurdle to its independence.

“If benches for judges are formed by the executive that is not judicial independence. This happens only in Pakistan, not anywhere else in the world,” he said, urging the SC to constitute a full bench to hear all appeals filed against the 26th Amendment.

He added that nowhere in the world did the executive have the power to constitute benches for the judiciary.

He appealed for an end to oppressive tactics, warning that public tolerance has a limit. “If these hardships increase, divisions will deepen and the state will be endangered. If the situation does not improve, the rulers here will face the same fate as those of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal,” he cautioned.

Barrister Gohar said that the cases of three PTI lawmakers were fixed for hearing that day. He argued before the court that their plea was constitutional and legal, but the Election Commission of Pakistan operating under a stay order was biased against PTI, passing orders in the dead of night.

“Our MPs were disqualified without being served notices. There is no precedent in the world where parliamentarians are disqualified and declared guilty through unconstitutional and unlawful means,” he said.

Barrister Gohar remarked that the season of punishments against PTI leaders had not ended. He warned that if political tensions continued, the state would be at risk. “A state ceases to remain a state when it lacks an independent judiciary, a strong parliament, and protection of citizens’ rights. The PTI founder is in jail for the cause of judicial independence and rule of law. His message is clear, human rights must be protected, the judiciary must be free, and parliament must be strong. We have struggled greatly for this,” he claimed.

He also said that PTI had won over 180 seats on February 8, yet their strength in parliament was reduced to 91, and now only 76 remained. “Our voice has been suppressed, the doors of parliament were closed on us, and now disqualifications of our members have started again. Continued political tensions will gravely damage the country, democracy, and the economy. Without political stability, there can be no economic stability. The people will remain helpless,” he warned.

Barrister Gohar also mentioned visiting flood-affected areas of Punjab and witnessing the devastation firsthand.

“Thousands of villages are submerged, millions are homeless, and crops on 1.8 million acres of land have been destroyed. Large-scale destruction has also occurred in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, yet the public has not received the relief they deserve. Punjab’s government has not even announced what it will provide to the people. The reason is the prevailing political instability,” he said.

He pointed out that the PTI founder and his spouse were sentenced on January 17, but their bail pleas had still not been fixed for hearing.

Barrister Gohar said that the PTI founder had called for a rally in September, but they had advised him to delay it because of the floods. “Preparations are now underway for a rally in Peshawar at the end of September, to be led by Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur,” he added.

Commenting on federal relief efforts, he said the flood was a national calamity, not something a province alone could handle. “The federation has given us nothing substantial.

“We had appealed for the restoration of power supply, improvement of communication system, and postponement of the MD-CAT examination so students in the province can prepare properly,” he said.