Pakistan Supreme Court's second senior-most judge resigns

Islamabad: In a surprise development, Pakistan Supreme Court's second senior-most judge, who was slated to be the next chief justice, resigned on Thursday.

Justice Ijazul Ahsan stepped down a day after another top court judge Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi resigned.

In his resignation addressed to President Arif Alvi, the senior judge said that he no longer wished to continue.

"Therefore, I, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, resign as a Judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in terms of Article 206(1) of the Constitution with immediate effect," he wrote.

He also said that he had the honour and privilege of serving as a Judge of the Lahore High Court, the Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court and a Judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

The development comes as President Alvi earlier Thursday accepted Justice Naqvi’s resignation who was facing a Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) inquiry over allegations of misconduct and decided to step down.

Justice Ahsan was also part of the five-member SJC but had refused to join other members of the council on Nov 22, 2023, in the issuance of a fresh show-cause notice to Justice Naqvi.

He was also part of the five-member bench that had disqualified former premier Nawaz Sharif in the high-profile Panamagate case in 2017. He was appointed as the monitoring judge to supervise and monitor the implementation of the Panamagate case verdict that resulted in conviction of Sharif in two cases of corruption.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz information secretary Marriyum Aurangzeb questioned the resignation of Justices Ahsan and Naqvi. "Do they believe that resigning from the highest court will absolve them of injustices done by them?"

Aurangzeb alleged that the two judges had “done injustice” to the people of the country and pointed out that if an elected prime minister could undergo scrutiny, it was only fair for any individual, including a Supreme Court judge, to face accountability.