KARACHI: The Karachi Bar Association (KBA) announced it would continue its protest against sweeping changes to Pakistan’s constitution via a “complete strike” on Monday, as tensions persist between the government, opposition and legal fraternity over the contentious constitutional amendment.
City courts in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi remained close from Thursday to Saturday as lawyers across Sindh protested against the 27th constitutional amendment. The constitutional tweaks grant expanded powers to Pakistan’s army chief and form a Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) to interpret and decide cases related to the constitution, and also makes changes to the procedures for the transfer of judges. Critics argue the changes clip the judiciary’s powers as the FCC’s judges will be appointed by the government.
Opposition to the constitutional tweaks gathered steam last Thursday when two Supreme Court judges, Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, resigned in protest against the amendment hours after it was signed into law by the president. State Minister for Interior Tallal Chaudry on Sunday termed the move by the judges as “political resignations,” defending the parliament’s right to amend the constitution as it sees fit.
“The Karachi Bar Association hereby conveys that, in pursuance of and in full compliance with the decision of the Sindh Bar Council and the resolution adopted by the Karachi Bar Association, a complete strike shall be observed on Monday, 17th Nov. 2025,” the KBA said in a statement on Sunday.
The bar association also said that from Nov. 18-22, it would hold “token strikes” from 11:00 am onwards.
The 27th amendment follows last year’s 26th amendment, passed in October 2024, which granted parliament a formal role in appointing the chief justice and established a senior judges’ panel for constitutional cases — moves widely criticized as weakening judicial independence.
The 27th constitutional amendment has sparked concerns among the judiciary, with several former senior judges and prominent lawyers writing to Chief Justice Yahya Afridi last week against the tweaks. As per a copy of the letter seen by Arab News, the legal fraternity warned the chief justice that the proposed amendment would “permanently denude” the Supreme Court of its constitutional authority.
“With deep sadness and with the deepest regret, this letter is being written by us not in normal times but in times that present the greatest threat to the Supreme Court of Pakistan since its establishment in 1956,” the signatories wrote in a letter to the chief justice, adding that the proposed amendment would be “the biggest and the most radical restructuring of the Federal Appellate Court structure since the enactment of the Government of India Act, 1935.”
The government has defended the constitutional amendment as reforms necessary to provide speedy justice to the masses and ensure an impartial judiciary. The amendment takes place after years of tensions between Pakistan’s judiciary and the executive, with the former rendering verdicts that have ousted prime ministers, dismissed senior officials and prevented administrations from implementing policies.
