The ongoing debate over the proposed 27th Constitutional Amendment has intensified after a letter written by Supreme Court’s senior judge, Justice Athar Minallah, surfaced, sharply criticising the judiciary’s past role and urging introspection. Separately, 38 former Supreme Court law clerks have also written to Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi, calling for a full court meeting to address the current judicial crisis.
Justice Minallah’s letter, dated October 8, emerged publicly on Monday, in which he stated that the Supreme Court had “often stood with the powerful instead of the people.” He described the judicial execution of former prime minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto as an “unforgivable crime” that continues to stain the institution’s legacy.
He added that the legal proceedings against Benazir Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz reflected a pattern of judicial oppression, a cycle he said continued through the treatment of former prime minister Imran Khan, calling it “a continuation of the same coercive tradition.”
Justice Minallah wrote that the Islamabad High Court, during his tenure, earned public trust but was “targeted” as a result. Referring to recent letters and disclosures by former and sitting judges, he said these “weigh heavily on the conscience of the Supreme Court.”
“We know the truth, but we restrict it to whispered conversations in tea houses,” he remarked, adding that foreign interference in judicial matters was no longer a secret but an open reality. He warned that judges who stood for truth faced reprisals, often in the form of weaponised accountability.
The 38 former Supreme Court law clerks letter to the Chief Justice, urged him to convene a full court meeting to safeguard the credibility of the judiciary.
They warned that the current moment posed greater risks than the 2007 judicial crisis, when the judiciary was suspended under emergency rule.
The signatories cautioned that the CJP’s response at this critical juncture would determine how history remembers him “as the Chief Justice who defended the Supreme Court, or the one who buried it.”
