ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) vice-chairman Syed Amjad Shah on Tuesday questioned the role of the Supreme Court, asking if the top judiciary was successful in ensuring that other pillars of the state like parliament functioned independently within their remit as defined in the Constitution.“Unfortunately, suffocation reigns supreme in the present political dispensation,” Mr Shah regretted, adding that efforts were afoot by certain state agencies and institutions to curb dissenting voices of all kind.
“Should such institutions be allowed to intrude upon the domain of others contrary to what is enshrined in the Constitution and whether the apex court was effective in checking such creeping encroachment on part of certain institutions,” he said while speaking at a full-court reference held at the Supreme Court in honour of Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed on reaching superannuation. Chief Justice of Pakistan Asif Saeed Khosa, Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed, Attorney General Anwar Mansoor and Supreme Court Bar Association President Amanullah Kanrani also spoke at the event which was also attended by Justice Qazi Faez Isa, the SC judge who is facing a presidential reference in the Supreme Judicial Council. In a strongly-worded speech in Urdu, Amjad Shah said the PBC stood firm behind the armed forces, adding the entire legal community realised and supported the defence requirements and its importance, especially in view of the current volatile international situation. “But interference in political matters always erodes the prestige of such institutions, especially at a time when Pakistan is at a crossroads and cannot afford even eventuality,” he added.
Tuesday, April 21, 2026
