Islamabad: A tense legal dialogue unfolded in the Supreme Court during a hearing on petitions against the 26th Constitutional Amendment. An eight-member constitutional bench, led by senior judge Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan, was presiding over the case.
During the proceedings, Khawaja Ahmed Hussain, the lawyer for petitioner Afrasiab Khattak, requested that the bench issue an order to refer the case to a Full Court for hearing. “I am not asking you to make a final decision, just refer the matter to the Full Court. You have the authority to issue that order,” the lawyer argued.
This request prompted pointed questions from Justice Jamal Mandokhail, a member of the bench. “If we cannot even hear the case, how can we issue an order to form a Full Court?” he remarked.
Justice Mandokhail also pressed the lawyer on his suggestion that the case should go before “another independent bench.” He asked, “Are you not trusting this bench?” He further questioned, “Will the member judges of this constitutional bench also be part of that ‘independent bench’?”
The lawyer, Khawaja Ahmed Hussain, clarified that he was not implying the current bench was not independent. He maintained that according to Article 191A of the Constitution, the decision should come from the “original full court.”
Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan, who was heading the bench, also inquired if the Chief Justice would be part of this proposed bench. The lawyer replied that the Chief Justice would indeed be part of it.
