ISLAMABAD: The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) will hold its first meeting after the passage of the Constitution 27th Amendment and the establishment of the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) on Dec 2, with a packed agenda.
The forum is expected to elevate a judge to the Supreme Court from the Islamabad High Court (IHC) as well as nominate the chief justices of the Sindh High Court (SHC) and the Balochistan High Court (BHC).
The meeting of the JCP will be convened at 2:30pm in the conference room of Islamabad’s SC building.
One of the agendas of the meeting is to consider appointment of a judge to the SC from the senior judges of the IHC. However, the names of the judges and their seniority position will be disclosed at a later stage.
SC strength
With the establishment of the FCC, where four judges from the Supreme Court — Justices Aminuddin Khan, Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Aamer Farooq and Ali Baqar Najafi — have been appointed as well as the resignation of Justices Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Athar Minallah, the total strength of the SC has been reduced to 18 judges from the earlier 24.
Presided over by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi, the JCP meeting will also be attended by FCC CJ Aminuddin Khan; Justices Munib Akhtar, Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi and Aamer Farooq; Attorney General for Pakistan Mansoor Usman Awan; Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar; Pakistan Bar Council representative Ahsan Bhoon; Senators Farooq Hamid Naek and Syed Ali Zafar as well as MNAs Sheikh Aftab Ahmad and Gohar Ali Khan.
Likewise, the JCP during its meeting will also consider the appointment of SHC CJ from among the three senior-most judges of the high court.
Those who will be considered for the office are acting SHC Chief Justice Zafar Ahmed Rajput and Justices Muhammad Iqbal Kalohoro and Justice Mahmood A. Khan.
Similarly, the JCP will also consider for the appointment of the BHC chief justice from among the three senior-most judges of the high court.
They include acting BHC Chief Justice Muhammad Kamran Khan Mulakhai and Justices Iqbal Ahmed Kasi and Shaukat Ali Rakhshani. After the passage of the 27th Constitutional Amendment, changes were made to key constitutional and statutory judicial bodies.
Following these changes, SC’s Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail was included in the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) and the Practice and Procedure Committee while FCC’s Justice Farooq was made a member of the JCP.
Among the three statutory bodies, the SJC is the top forum for judicial accountability that probes allegations of misconduct against judges, the Practice and Procedure Committee forms benches and fixes cases, and the JCP is responsible for appointing judges to the superior judiciary.
Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2025
