26th Constitutional Amendment based on ‘one letter’: IHC judge Kayani

Islamabad High Court (IHC) senior puisne judge Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani on Tuesday said that the 26th Constitutional Amendment — which brought numerous changes pertaining to the judiciary — was based on “one letter”.

Addressing the IHC Bar Association today, the judge lauded the efforts of Islamabad’s bar and lawyer bodies for preserving their rights and those of the nation.

“Only with the law’s correct interpretation and implementation can you see Pakistan on the destination of progress. For that, legal changes, even if it is the 26th Constitutional Amendment, cannot dissuade you from your purposes.

“Such stages have kept coming in Pakistan’s history but ponder this, that one letter has changed the entire system in Pakistan. I don’t need to mention it but you’re all witness that the 26th Constitutional Amendment is based on one letter.

“To what extent this is sustained? I hope that at the end the full bench of the Supreme Court hears and this issue will be resolved for the people of Pakistan and the sake of this country,” he said to applause from the audience.

The judge said the audience was part of the same system which faced a myriad of issues such as that of missing persons and attacks on personal freedoms that were visible to everyone.

Despite that, he said it was important to address the above and hoped that the legal community would play its role for which upright lawyers, judges and media personnel were needed.

Talking about complexes related to the Islamabad bars, he quipped: “The federal government and law ministry need to pay attention that where they bring about changes in the law so quickly, they should take part as promptly in the construction of this building. And the hope is that no one needs to write a letter for that.”

The judge did not elaborate on what letter he was referring to. However, he was one of the six IHC judges who wrote a startling letter in March last year to members of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) regarding attempts to pressure judges through abduction and torture of their relatives as well as secret surveillance inside their homes.

Calls had subsequently emerged from various quarters for a probe into the investigation, amid which former chief justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa summoned a full court meeting of the apex court’s judges.

However, any action on the letter remains pending till now. The SJC in November considered different options concerning the letter and agreed to expand consultations, noting that the code of conduct of judges applied to heads of different institutions as well as judges.

Meanwhile, the Constitution (Twenty-sixth Amendment) Act, 2024 that became law in October last year is legislation that took away the Supreme Court’s suo motu powers, set the chief justice of Pakistan’s (CJP) term at three years and empowered the prime minister to appoint the next CJP from among the three most senior SC judges.

The amendment was criticised for the haste with which it was passed. The International Court of Jurists derided the “blow to judicial independence” when the 26th Amendment was signed into law.

Questions have arisen since then on the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court’s judge with calls for a full court bench to take up the appeals against the constitutional amendment and decide the matter.

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