ISLAMABAD: On Tuesday, a newly established parliamentary panel consisting of members from the government and opposition approved Justice Yahya Afridi’s name out of a three-member panel with a two-thirds majority, making him the third judge on the SC seniority list (apart from the current Chief Justice of Pakistan).
The PTI abstained from the proceedings to protest the constitutional modifications that created the committee, and the late-night decision, which was announced by Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, was made during an in-camera meeting of the special panel held at Parliament House.
The National Assembly Secretariat had asked the PTI to release the names of its parliamentarians for the panel just one day prior.
Only nine members convened without the PTI. According to sources who spoke to Dawn, eight of them supported Justice Afridi, while JUI-F chairman Kamran Murtaza was the only one to vote in favor of senior puisne judge Mansoor Ali Shah.
It is anticipated that today (Wednesday) the committee will submit its findings to the NA speaker, who will forward it to the prime minister for approval.
Participants in the meeting included Khawaja Asif, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Shaista Pervaiz, Azam Nazeer Tarar, Syed Naveed Qamar, Rana Ansar, Farooq H. Naek, and Kamran Murtaza.
Barristers Gohar Ali Khan, Hamid Raza, and Syed Ali Zafar, who are associated with the PTI, did not attend the panel’s hearings.
The committee was originally scheduled to meet at 4 p.m., and many reporters had already arrived at the location, Parliament House’s Constitution Room, to cover the events before the members did.
An hour later, the meeting began, but it was abruptly adjourned. Law Minister Tarar informed reporters that the committee would meet at 8:30 p.m. because neither the PTI nor the members of the Sunni Ittehad Council were present.
Despite senior political leaders’ efforts to bring the PTI-affiliated members to the table, they did not participate in the parliamentary committee’s deliberations.
Political heavyweights Ahsan Iqbal, Rana Ansar, Raja Pervez Ashraf, and Kamran Murtaza made up the subcommittee whose job it was to convince the PTI legislators to participate in the talks.
A meeting with Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq was immediately requested by the subcommittee and held in his chamber.
The meeting was attended by Barrister Gohar Ali Khan. Barrister Gohar declared that their political committee had made the resolute decision to not attend the committee’s sessions, despite the speaker’s and the subcommittee members’ entreaties.
The Sindh High Court Bar Association issued a statement applauding Justice Afridi’s nomination as soon as the committee’s decision was made public.
