ISLAMABAD: A 12-member Special Parliamentary Committee will meet today at 4pm to decide on the new Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP). The in-camera session will focus on selecting a successor for the current Chief Justice, Qazi Faez Isa, who retires on October 25.
The committee was formed after the passage of the 26th Constitutional Amendment and includes members from various political parties, such as PML-N, PPP, JUI-F, MQM-P, and SIC. They will choose the next CJP from the three most senior Supreme Court judges: Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Munib Akhtar, and Justice Yahya Afridi.
With a two-thirds majority, the coalition government is expected to finalize the nomination in today’s meeting. The chosen candidate’s name will be sent to the Prime Minister, who will forward it to the President for formal appointment.
The appointment process, outlined in Article 175A of the Constitution, requires the committee to make the nomination at least three days before the current CJP’s retirement.
Earlier, President Asif Ali Zardari approved the 26th Constitutional Amendment, officially turning it into law. The new legislation was then published in the Gazette of Pakistan.