The crisis within Pakistan’s Supreme Court has reached a critical point as President Asif Ali Zardari formally accepted the resignations of two highly respected senior judges, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Athar Minallah. Both judges submitted their resignations yesterday, accompanied by letters raising profound constitutional and ethical concerns.
Justice Mansoor Ali Shah submitted a 13-page resignation letter to the President, affirming that his service to the institution had always been marked by honour, honesty, and integrity. He tendered his resignation from his position as the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, Justice Athar Minallah, who chronicled his distinguished 11-year judicial career (serving as IHC Judge, IHC Chief Justice, and SC Judge), stressed that his solemn oath was one of “loyalty to the Constitution of Pakistan,” and not to any individual or institution. He made a powerful, somber declaration:
“The Constitution, the compliance of which I took the oath, is no longer in existence.”
Justice Minallah disclosed that prior to the 27th Constitutional Amendment, he had written a letter to the then-Chief Justice of Pakistan expressing constitutional apprehension about its potential effects. He asserted that those initial fears, hidden behind the “curtain of silence and inaction,” have now tragically become a reality. The acceptance of these resignations exacerbates the ongoing national debate regarding the independence and constitutional supremacy of the judiciary.
