18th Amendment Hearing Continues in Supreme Court

A 17-judge full court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry was hearing petitions challenging certain clauses in the 18th Amendment.

During the hearing, senior lawyer and petitioner Abdul Hafeez Pirzada argued that the concurrent list has been removed. He reiterated that the constitution has allowed the courts to conduct hearing of cases. He added while the petitions do not challenge the entire amendment, it should be clear that the parliament was not supreme. He said the 18th Amendment was being used to change the formation of the parliament and now even the party head can sack the Prime Minister.

Hafeez was of the view that the Supreme Court has complete rite to rectify any clause that is against the constitution. He said that it was the masses have the power to curb the rites of the parliament and he further condemned the political parties which used the parliament to ratify dictators’ measures through the 8th Amendment. He expressed disappointment on the fact that past parliaments have validated the wrong verdicts of dictators.