Supreme Court | Pakistan

• LHCBA petition wants ICAs ‘restored to their original forum’ • Says 27th Amendment ‘unlawful, undermining judiciary’ • Fears parliament can ‘abolish or replace forum for constitutional adjudication at will’ if permitted ISLAMABAD: The Lah­ore High Court Bar Asso­ciation (LHCBA) on Thur­sday filed an application before the Federal Consti­tution Court (FCC), requ­esting that the pending intra-court appeals (ICAs) against the May 7, 2025 judgement on military trials of civilians be returned to the Supreme Court. The application has been moved under Order 35, Rule 6 of the Supreme Court Rules, 2025, which the FCC has adopted for the time being until it frames its own rules. On June 13, the LHCBA and the Lahore Bar Asso­ciation filed ICAs before the SC, seeking to revisit and set aside the May 7, 2025 judgement on the military trials of civilians. These appeals were filed through senior counsel Hamid Khan. In addition, former chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) Jawwad S. Khawaja and senior lawyer Barr­ister Aitzaz A...

The opposition alliance Tehreek-i-Tahafuz-i-Ayin-i-Pakistan (TTAP) on Tuesday staged a march from Parliament House to Supreme Court as part of its nationwide protest movement against the newly enacted 27th Amendment. The 27th Amendment was signed into law on November 13 after passage from the parliament amid strong criticism by the opposition parties. The legislation, which has brought major structural changes to the judiciary and the military, has been assailed by the legal fraternity, even former and sitting judges, as an “attack” on judicial independence. In a meeting on Friday, the TTAP had vowed to vigorously protest to “restore the Constitution to its original form”. Under a plan announced then, members of parties under the TTAP umbrella gathered outside Parliament House today to hold a protest. They then marched to the Supreme Court on Constitution Avenue. TTAP Vice Chairman Senator Allama Raja Nasir Abbas, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Khan, PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja and PTI Senator Faisa...

Lawyer Asad Rahim Khan filed a petition with the Supreme Court (SC) seeking to challenge the recently enacted 27th Constitutional Amendment, moving the court to declare the amendments unconstitutional and to “take measures” to ensure judicial independence. The 27th Amendment, signed into law earlier today by President Asif Ali Zardari, was widely criticised by the legal fraternity for abolishing judicial independence through the formation of a Federal Constitutional Court (FCC). SC Justices Mansoor Ali Shah and Athar Minallah resigned earlier this evening, in response to the 27th Amendment, which “diminished” the apex court. Khan’s petition, a copy of which is available with Dawn, requested that the Supreme Court declare Sections 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 14 to 43, 45A and B, 46 and 48 of the Constitution (Twenty-seventh Amendment) Act, 2025 illegal and unlawful, as it violated Entry 55 of the Federal Legislative List, read with other provisions of the Constitution. According to the petition, Entry 55 “ensure...

• Article 175 tweak ‘ends judiciary as we knew it’, says senior counsel • Supporters believe new constitutional court will modernise judiciary ISLAMABAD: The initial draft of the 27th Constitutional Amendment Bill, ta­­b­led in the Senate on Saturday, has led many legal experts to believe that the tw­­eaks would, in effect, dethrone the Sup­r­e­­me Court as the country’s highest judicial forum, ceding that position to a proposed Federal Constitutional Court (FCC). However, proponents of the amendment say the new constitutional court would modernise the judiciary, reduce backlogs and separate constitutional and appellate jurisdictions — a reform they argue will improve efficiency and clarity in the justice system. “Left with a limited jurisdiction of deciding ordinary civil, criminal and statutory appeals, the Supreme Court has now become all the more a ‘Supreme District Court’,” remarked a senior counsel who asked not to be named. He warned that the government could now amend laws like the Elections Act 2017 ...

A petition was filed in the Supreme Court on Friday to challenge the “attempts to do away with the constitutional jurisdiction of the superior judiciary”, apparently by means of a 27th Constitutional Amendment. The proposed changes to the Constitution have raised concerns that the move could roll back some powers devolved under the landmark 18th Constitution Amendment and further “fine-tune” the structure and the functioning of the superior judiciary. “The said proposal, as publicly reported, contemplates the establishment of separate ‘Constitutional Courts’ and the curtailment or transfer of the existing jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and the high courts of Pakistan conferred under Articles 184(3) and 199 of the Constitution. “Such an attempt, if permitted to proceed, would fundamentally alter the constitutional framework, destroy the independence of the judiciary, violate the doctrine of separation of powers, and extinguish the citizens’ right of access to justice and judicial review guarante...

The United States Supreme Court is due on Wednesday to hear arguments over the legality of Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs in a case with implications for the global economy that marks a major test of the Republican president’s powers and the willingness of the justices to let him push the limits of his authority. The arguments are set to begin at 10am EST (1500 GMT) after lower courts ruled that Trump’s unprecedented use of a 1977 federal law meant for national emergencies to impose the tariffs exceeded his authority. The challenge involves three lawsuits brought by businesses affected by the tariffs and 12 US states, most of them Democratic-led. Trump has heaped pressure on the Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, to preserve tariffs that he has leveraged as a key economic and foreign policy tool. The tariffs could add up to trillions of dollars for the US over the next decade. If the justices strike them down, “we would be defenceless, leading perhaps even to the ruination of our nation”, ...

One of the 13 people injured in a gas blast at the Supreme Court’s canteen a day earlier succumbed to his injuries on Wednesday, according to hospital officials. Dr Abdul Khaliq, the head of the Burn Care Centre at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in Islamabad, said that 19-year-old Asad Muneeb, who was a air conditioner technician (AC), did not survive. He said that the victim had sustained burn injuries on 80 per cent of his body. The doctor also said that another person injured in the incident had been discharged. “Out of the 11 remaining patients, four are critical. Five of them will have plastic and skin surgeries within the next two weeks,” he said. Talking about the gas blast, he said that in such cases hot air enters the lungs, severely damaging them in the process. He said that chemicals were also released in such a situation, which could further exacerbate one’s injuries. “Our plastic surgery team for burn injuries is doing their best,“ he said. As many as 13 people were burnt, two of them...

Twelve people were injured in a “gas” explosion at the Supreme Court building in Islamabad on Tuesday, police said. “A gas blast occurred at a canteen in the basement of the Supreme Court building at around 10:55am,” Islamabad Inspector General of Police (IG) Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi said while speaking to the media after the incident. He added that of the 12 injured, nine were taken to the Polyclinic hospital and three to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims). IG Rizvi further told the reporters that the condition of two of the injured was “serious” who had sustained 80 per cent and 30pc burns. “The rest suffered minor injuries, most of which are burn injuries.” In multiple videos received by Dawn following the incident, the damaged interior of parts of the SC building is visible with blood stains on the floor. In other videos recorded outside, people, including lawyers, could be seen spilling out of the building. The IG said police, including special branch and along with bomb disposal squad and Res...

A constitutional bench of the Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the Peshawar High Court (PHC) to decide PTI leader Shibli Faraz’s appeal against his disqualification as a senator. Faraz, along with former National Assembly opposition leader Omar Ayub, first approached the PHC. However, it had decided to adjourn sine die (for indefinite period) the pleas, directing the petitioners to first surrender before the competent court. Later, the PTI leaders challenged the high court’s decision before the SC. Headed by Justice Aminuddin Khan, a five-member CB resumed proceedings on Shibli’s appeal, after Ayub had withdrawn his during the last hearing on Monday. The bench also included Justices Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi and Shakeel Ahmad. Faraz’s appeal challenges the PHC’s decision to indefinitely adjourn its hearings on his petition against the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) notification de-seating him as the Senate opposition leader. PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali ...

Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail has stated that the formation of Supreme Court benches will be carried out strictly in accordance with the Constitution and the law, not based on individual preferences.

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has acquitted a 74-year-old Christian man, who was diagnosed with a mental illness, of blasphemy charges after overturning the June 30, 2014 Lahore High Court’s (LHC) order confirming his death sentence. Authored by Justice Athar Minallah, a three-judge Supreme Court bench, while extending the benefit of doubt, ordered the acquittal of all charges against petitioner Anwar Keneth after accepting his jail plea but with a direction to release him if not required in any other case. In a nine-page judgement, the bench consisting of Justices Athar Minallah, Irfan Saadat Khan and Malik Shahzad Ahmad Khan also expressed the expectation that the Pakistan Institute of Mental Health (PIMH) executive director, where the petitioner was being treated, will ensure continuation of his medical treatment. The blasphemy case against Mr Keneth was registered on Sept 25, 2001, by the Gawalmandi police for alleged offences under Section 295C of the Pakistan Penal Code. Bench says elderly suspect diagno...

Five Islamabad High Court (IHC) judges — namely Justices Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Babar Sattar, Tariq Mah­mood Jahangiri, Saman Rafat Imtiaz and Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan — submitted separate petitions at the Supreme Court (SC) together on Friday against a number of issues affecting the court recently, from the composition of benches to rosters to case transfers. The petitions, available with Dawn.com, named the IHC, IHC Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar and the Federation of Pakistan as respondents and were filed under Article 184(3) of the Constitution. Article 184(3) sets out the SC’s original jurisdiction and enables it to assume jurisdiction in matters involving a question of “public importance” with reference to the “enforcement of any of the fundamental rights” of Pakistan’s citizens. In their petitions, the judges moved the SC to declare that administrative powers could not be “deployed to undermine or trump the judicial powers” of the high court judges. They further asked the apex court to declar...

The sisters of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan reached the Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday to deliver a letter from him to Chief Justice Yahya Afridi.

Tehreek-i-Tahafuz-i-Ayeen-i-Pakistan leader Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar on Thursday moved the Supreme Court (SC), seeking its intervention to pave the way for the fixation of pending petitions challenging the 26th Constitutional Amendment before the full court. The 26th Constitutional Amendment, also known as the Constitutional Package, is legislation that takes away the SC’s suo motu powers, sets the CJP’s term at three years and empowers a special par­liamentary committee to nominate the next CJP from among the three most senior SC judges. Last month, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi had ignored a decision made last year by a committee, constituted under the Practice and Procedure Act 2023, to bring challenges to the 26th Amendment of the Constitution before the full SC. After filing his petition today, Khokhar said while speaking to the media that he sought the CJP’s decision to be overturned. “The chief justice said, ‘I have informally consulted all Supreme Court justices. We have concluded that all...

ISLAMABAD - Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi Thursday hoisted national flag in a ceremony held at the Supreme Court to mark the 78th Independence Day of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Yahya Afridi on Monday emphasized that the Supreme Court is not a forum for fact-finding and will only entertain matters involving violations of law.

Even as an uproar over files relating to Jeffrey Epstein engulfs United States President Donald Trump and Congress, the US Supreme Court is due to wade into the controversy and decide whether to hear a bid by an associate of the late financier and convicted sex offender to overturn her criminal conviction. The justices, now on their summer recess, are expected in late September to consider whether to take up an appeal by British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, currently serving a 20-year prison sentence after being found guilty in 2021 by a jury in New York of helping Epstein sexually abuse teenage girls. Maxwell’s lawyers have told the Supreme Court that her conviction was invalid because a non-prosecution and plea agreement that federal prosecutors had made with Epstein in Florida in 2007 also shielded his associates and should have barred her criminal prosecution in New York. Her lawyers have a Monday deadline for filing their final written brief in their appeal to the court. Some legal experts see merit in M...

Zahir Jaffer, the main convict in the high-profile Noor Mukadam murder case, has filed a review petition in the Supreme Court of Pakistan, seeking reconsideration of the death sentence awarded to him.

Posts from users on social media platforms X and Facebook on Wednesday claimed that the Supreme Court had declared an Islamabad court’s ban on 27 YouTube channels unconstitutional. However, no such development has occurred. It emerged on Tuesday that an Islamabad court last month ordered YouTube to block 27 channels for disseminating “fake, misleading, and defamatory” content against the government and armed forces. Among the 27 sanctioned accounts — run by journalists, political commentators and social media in­­fluencers in Pakistan and overseas — are those of the PTI, Matiuallah Jan, Wajahat Khan, Ahmad Noorani and Asad Ali Toor, Imran Riaz, Orya Maqbool, Sabir Shakir, and Moeed Pirzada. On Wednesday, former anchorperson Sabir Shakir said in a post on X: “Supreme Court declares ban on 27 YouTube channels unconstitutional.” The post was seen by more than 39,000 people. The same claim was shared by several other X users as can be seen here, here, here and here. The claim also circulated on Facebook, as can b...

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan’s Practice and Procedure Committee has released its new procedural framework for 2025, ARY News reported. According to reports, the rules were approved during a committee meeting chaired by Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi, and are now in effect under the Supreme Court Practice and Procedure Act, 2023. The […]