ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s legal community is sharply divided over the creation of the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) under the newly approved 27th Amendment, with some lawyers defending the development as parliament’s right to legislate, while others condemn it as an attack on judicial independence.
The 27th Amendment, passed by Parliament with a two-thirds majority earlier this week, represents one of the most sweeping changes to Pakistan’s constitutional and judicial framework in decades. It establishes the court as a separate institution responsible for interpreting the constitution and adjudicating matters involving fundamental rights, powers that had previously rested with the Supreme Court.
Two members of the country’s superior judiciary resigned in protest against the amendment hours after it was signed into law on Thursday, calling it a “grave assault” on the constitution.
“I believe that the Supreme Court was under a lot of pressure,” Syed Wajid Gilani, President of the Islamabad High Court Bar Association, told Arab News on Friday. “It had been in the pipeline for a long time that a Federal Constitutional Court should be formed here. People say that the constitutional court will impact their fundamental rights,
