Next chief justice resigns amid judicial crisis

By Staff Reporter

ISLAMABAD: A second judge of Pakistan’s Supreme Court resigned on Thursday, a day after another judge facing misconduct charges quit, in a rare crisis that has shaken the judiciary’s reputation as a bulwark of democracy.

Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan, who was expected to become the next chief justice of Pakistan after the retirement of Justice Qazi Faez Isa in September, did not give a reason for his resignation in a letter to President Arif Alvi.

“I no longer wish to continue as a judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan,” Justice Ahsan, who was part of a panel that disqualified former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from office in 2017 on corruption charges, wrote. “Therefore, I, Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan, resign as a Judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in terms of Article 206 (1) of the Constitution with immediate effect.”

Justice Ahsan’s departure came after Justice Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, who was facing a Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) inquiry over allegations of misconduct, resigned on Wednesday.

The SJC, a five-member body of senior judges, is the only constitutional authority that can remove judges from office.

Justice Ahsan was one of the SJC members who had refused to issue a second show-cause notice to Justice Naqvi on Nov. 22, 2023, saying the proceedings were hasty and lacked debate and discussion.

In a letter to the SJC members on Tuesday, Justice Ahsan said he disagreed with the process and the manner in which the proceedings were conducted, and that the allegations against Justice Naqvi were without merit or substance.

Justice Ahsan was also part of the five-member bench that delivered the verdict in the high-profile Panama Papers case, which led to the disqualification of then-prime minister Sharif.

He was also appointed as the monitoring judge to oversee the implementation of the Panama Papers verdict, which ordered the filing of corruption cases against Sharif and his family.

Justice Ahsan assumed the position of chief justice of the Lahore High Court on Nov. 6, 2015. He was elevated to the Supreme Court on June 28, 2016.