ISLAMABAD; Supreme Court Justices Mansoor Ali Shah and Athar Minallah resigned on Thursday, just hours after President Asif Ali Zardari signed the controversial 27th Constitutional Amendment into law.
Both judges had earlier urged Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi, in separate letters, to convene a full court meeting and judicial conference to discuss the implications of the amendment.
In his resignation letter, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah described the amendment as “a grave assault on the Constitution of Pakistan,” saying it dismantled the Supreme Court, placed the judiciary under executive control, and undermined constitutional democracy.
He wrote that the amendment fractured the unity of the apex court, crippled judicial independence, and pushed the country “back by decades.” Justice Shah said he faced a moral choice between continuing in an institution that had lost its autonomy or stepping down in protest, ultimately choosing the latter.
He further argued that the 27th Amendment had stripped the Supreme Court of its fundamental authority to interpret the Constitution, unlike the 26th Amendment, which had preserved judicial review.
Justice Athar Minallah, in his letter, said he had sworn to uphold “the Constitution” — not merely “a constitution.” He expressed deep regret that the document he pledged to defend “was no more,” calling the amendment a betrayal of Pakistan’s constitutional order.
He noted that prior to its passage, he had written to the Chief Justice expressing grave concerns, which he said had now become reality. Justice Minallah wrote that the Constitution’s spirit and voice had been silenced, and the judiciary’s robes, once symbols of duty and trust, had too often become emblems of silence and complicity.
Separately, former Attorney General Makhdoom Ali Khan resigned from the Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan, calling the amendment’s passage “the sinking of the last ship” of judicial independence.
President Zardari signed the 27th Amendment into law after it passed both houses of Parliament amid strong opposition protests. The legislation creates a Federal Constitutional Court to handle constitutional matters and reshapes the judicial structure. Sources said the president is expected to administer the oath to the first chief justice of the new court on Friday.
