Khyber Pakhtunkhwa CM warns of countrywide protest if senior-most judge of SC not appointed as CJP

Peshawar: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur on Monday warned of a countrywide protest if the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court was not appointed as the Chief Justice of Pakistan.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader announced this on the floor of the Provincial Assembly.

“We will not allow anyone to make the judiciary of the country, a slave for their political gains,” he said.

Pakistan on Monday enacted a law, capping the Chief Justice's tenure to three years and setting up a special commission to appoint the top judge from three senior-most judges of the Supreme Court, amid opposition from the jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's party.

Gandapur said, “We will come on the road if the government did not appoint the senior-most judge as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.” The chief minister said his party would stop the government from the “illegal appointment” of a new Chief Justice under the new amendment.

With the 26th Constitution Amendment Bill becoming law, the government can now block Justice Masoor Ali Shah from succeeding the current Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, who is set to retire on October 25 after reaching superannuation, which is 65 years.

The amendment blocked the automatic rise of the senior-most Supreme Court judge to the post of Chief Justice after the incumbent CJP retired.