ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan has filed an urgent petition against the proposed amendments to the Constitution to United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Margaret Satterthwaite, UK’s Doughty Street Chambers confirmed.
According to the UK’s legal service provider, the urgent appeal was filed by Edward Fitzgerald KC, Tatyana Eatwell, and Jennifer Robinson. Former Prime Minster Khan’s family have instructed his lawyers to conduct UN engagement and international advocacy on his behalf, the website wrote.
The appeal raises serious concerns about the proposed 26th ‘Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan’ — which the government has been attempting to pass in recent weeks — and the serious threat it poses to the independence of the judiciary, the rule of law, and the protection of fundamental rights of the people of Pakistan, including for him and his supporters.
The appeal alleged that the proposed constitutional amendments would remove jurisdiction from the Supreme Court to a new Federal Constitutional Court, including the enforcement of the protection of fundamental rights and matters of constitutional interpretation.
The amendments will further allow the selection of the Chief Justice of the new Federal Constitutional Court by a new National Assembly Committee whose meetings will be held in private, sparking serious concerns about political interference in judicial appointments and undermining judicial independence and public scrutiny of the process, it added.
Moreover, the plea added that the proposed amendments will remove the ability to judicially review the actions of Pakistan’s military and security services, further reinforcing systematic impunity.
“If passed, the amendments will significantly restrict the ability of Imran Khan to challenge cases brought against him, including the government’s plans to try him in a military court, and will further undermine the independence of the judiciary, the separation of powers, and the protection of human rights and civil liberties in Pakistan,” it wrote.
The petitioner urges the UN’s Special Rapporteur to issue an urgent communication to Pakistan about the proposed amendment.
The proposed amendments to the Constitution have been widely criticised by the legal profession in Pakistan. Lawyers’ conventions held across the country rejected proposed constitutional amendments including the setting up of a federal constitutional court and pledged that they would fully resist the same.
The participants of the convention held in Peshawar on Saturday vowed to launch a sustainable struggle against the amendments and for the protection of the basic structure of the Constitution. They unanimously adopted the resolution and vowed that they would not accept any amendment that was drafted by ‘someone else’ and said that the parliament would be used only as a rubber stamp to pass it.