Fourth Pakistani judge quits over judicial interference

One of Pakistan’s most prominent high court judges, Justice Mohsin Kayani, hung up his robes Wednesday, resigning for what he described as “reasons of conscience”.

Kayani, a judge at the Lahore High Court since April, is now the fourth judge to resign following the controversial constitutional amendments. Earlier, Supreme Court Justices Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Athar Minallah, and Lahore High Court Justice Shams Mehmood Mirza resigned in November last year, citing similar reasons.

Taking a dig at the military’s growing influence over the judiciary, Kayani said in his resignation letter that changes introduced through Pakistan’s 26th and 27th Constitutional Amendments had “compromised the independence and institutional integrity” of the judiciary.

“I have witnessed what I regard as the executive’s growing control over judicial institutions, extending to the appointment and transfer of judges. Such interference has, in my assessment, seriously eroded public confidence in judicial independence and the fairness of the judicial process.”

Kayani also expressed concern about ordinary litigants, saying their needs had too often been neglected in a system intended to serve them.

“In these circumstances, my conscience does not permit me to continue on the bench,” he wrote. He said he intended to return to legal practice, where he hoped to continue defending rights and promoting legal awareness.

His resignation comes more than five years before his scheduled retirement on 10 February 2032 and follows a prolonged dispute over judicial transfers and the administration of Pakistan’s high courts.

Kayani had served as the senior puisne judge of the Islamabad High Court since December 2015 before he was transferred to the Lahore High Court on 29 April, dropping to No. 12 on the latter’s seniority list. He was seen as a potential successor to the Islamabad High Court’s chief justice.

That prospect was complicated by the transfer of Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar from the Lahore High Court to head the Islamabad High Court, along with the transfer of two other judges from the Sindh and Balochistan high courts.