All bar councils have rejected 26th Amendment, decided to challenge it: LHCBA

LAHORE: Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) President Asad Manzoor Butt and Professional Group head Hamid Khan have said lawyers across the country have rejected the 26th Constitutional Amendment.

"All bar associations have unanimously decided to challenge the amendment, which has been passed illegally," they said while holding a joint press conference on Monday. Manzoor Butt said prime minister and federal law minister did not cooperate with lawyers. “We hope the Punjab government will cooperate with the High Court Bar,” he said and thanked Chief Minister Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Ali Amin Gandapur for giving a cheque of Rs30 million.

Hamid Khan said that Pakistan is passing through a period of extreme difficulties. "The High Court Bars across Pakistan have rejected the 26th Amendment. All the Bars decided to challenge the amendment in the Supreme Court," he said and termed the 26th Amendment a PCO of the democratic era. Through the amendment, he said, the powers have been concentrated in one place. The appointment of the chief justice of Pakistan has to be based on seniority.

He proposed that a constitutional bench consisting of the chief justice and senior judges should be formed. Hamid Khan said now there is talk of the 27th amendment, which is being brought to set up military courts, which is an attempt to wrap our judicial system. There would be no lawyer and no argument in military courts.

It is being said that the Constitution is being amended at the behest of the Supreme Court Bar. He said that lawyers must consider these facts while voting for the candidates in the election of the Supreme Court Bar. “Lawyers should vote carefully. If lawyers support the 26th Amendment, then they can vote for our opposing candidate. But if they oppose the 26th and 27th Amendments, then they should vote in favour of our candidates.”

He said that lawyers have to decide whether they support military courts or whether the 26th Amendment to the Constitution is detrimental to the Constitution and the country, as these amendments are meant to render the courts powerless.

“Rana Sanaullah has never appeared in the courts, but he is giving guidelines to judges.” He said rulers had destroyed the judicial system. In the Supreme Court Bar Association, he said, the election would prove whether lawyers wanted to save the judicial system or not. "Lawyers are the defenders of the Constitution and rule of law," he added.