The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) has filed a petition with the Supreme Court calling into question the recently passed 23rd Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan that leased another two years to the military courts established back in 2015.
The petition, drafted by Advocate Rashid A Rizvi, says that the SCBA is concerned over the passing of the 23rd Amendment which curtails the independence of judiciary and the fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution of Pakistan.
The petitioner has asked the court whether the parliament is empowered to undo a basic feature of Constitution and change its basics structure, whether fundamental rights, independence of the judiciary, and the separation of powers are basic features of the Constitution, and other things.
All in all, the petition raises more than 30 questions of law to be settled by the Supreme Court and hopes that the amendment may be declared invalid for being a violation of the country’s laws and repugnant to their basic structure and salient features.
“Since the said Constitutional Amendment has effectively abrogated and taken away fundamental rights of the people of Pakistan guaranteed by Chapter 1 of Part II of the Constitution, therefore, it may kindly be declared that the same cannot remain the part of the text of the Constitution of Pakistan,” the petition concludes.
