Monitoring Desk
Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan’s international legal counsels have filed an urgent appeal with the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur against the proposed 26th amendment to the constitution of Pakistan. The said appeal holds that the proposed amendment would pose serious threats to the rule of law and independence of judiciary in the country.
According to the Geo News, Imran Khan’s family engaged international legal counsels Edward Fitzgerald KC, Tatyana Eatwell, and Jennifer Robinson on the behalf of Imran Khan to file an urgent appeal in the UN Special Rapporteur for the protection of independence of judiciary and rule of law on Monday, October 7, 2024.
As per details, Imran Khan has made the following allegations in the appeal:
- It would confuse Supreme Court’s (SC) jurisdiction with the new Federal Constitutional Court threatening the matters related to the enforcement of the protection of fundamental rights and matters of constitutional interpretation.
- This amendment facilitates the political interference in the selection of the chief justice of the new Federal Constitution Court by the new National Assembly’s committee. The political judicial appointments would undermine the judicial independence, the separation of powers, and the protection of human rights and civil liberties.
- Imran Khan also mentioned in the appeal that this amendment would also create difficulties for his cases as it would restrict the ability to challenge the cases against him. He also mentioned that it is a deliberate effort of the current government to shift his cases to the military courts.
Imran Khan’s legal counsel Edward Fitzgerald, Eatwell and Robinson stated in appeal that “the proposed amendments are clearly aimed at removing the jurisdiction and powers of the SC when the judiciary in Pakistan is already under threat [and] judges have been threatened and coerced to deliver prescribed verdicts in controversial cases, rapid descent in the rule of law.”
On Tuesday, October 8, 2024, President Asif Ali Zardari and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif met Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazl ur Rehman to secure his support on the constitutional package as the ruling government is lacking 13 votes in the National Assembly, and nine votes in Senate. Khan’s appeal in UN is an attempt to stop the approval of the constitutional amendment.
It is worth mentioning here that earlier this year UN’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention declared Imran Khan’s detention unlawful, and Amnesty International had called for his immediate release.
