ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – In connection with the 27th Constitutional Amendment issue, Supreme Court’s (SC) senior judge Justice Athar Minallah, along with 38 legal experts, has written a letter to Chief Justice Yahya Afridi.
Justice Minallah’s letter, dated October 8, has now come to light.
In his letter, Justice Minallah wrote that the SC has often sided with the powerful instead of the people, and termed the judicial execution of former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto as an unforgivable crime by the judiciary.
He further stated that the proceedings against Benazir Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif, and Maryam Nawaz were part of the same chain of oppression, and the treatment meted out to Imran Khan was a continuation of that injustice.
Justice Minallah wrote that the Islamabad High Court (IHC) was targeted for earning public trust. He remarked that the letters and confessions of brave judges weigh heavily on the conscience of the SC, adding, “We know the truth but confine it to whispers in tea houses.”
He further wrote that foreign interference is no longer a secret but an open reality, and that any judge who speaks the truth becomes a target of revenge — those who refuse to bow are subjected to so-called accountability.
Letter from former law clerks
Earlier, 38 former SC law clerks had also written to the CJP, urging him to convene a full-court meeting.
In their letter, they stated that the judiciary today faces greater threats than it did in 2007, and that the chief justice’s response will determine how history remembers him.
They added that history will decide whether he will be remembered as the chief justice who defended the SC— or the one who buried it.