Justice Shams Mehmood Mirza tendered his resignation as a judge of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Saturday, becoming the first high court judge to resign following the enactment of the contentious 27th Constitutional Amendment.
According to family sources, Justice Mirza’s resignation letter cited his inability to continue “in good conscience” in light of the recent constitutional changes. Appointed as an additional judge of the LHC in March 2014, he was scheduled to retire on March 6, 2028.
Justice Mirza is the son of the late Justice Zia Mehmood Mirza, a former Supreme Court judge renowned for delivering the only dissenting opinion in the 1996 case on the dismissal of Benazir Bhutto’s government by then-president Farooq Ahmad Khan Laghari. Justice Zia had held that the president’s move was unjustified and there was no evidence of a breakdown of constitutional order. Justice Mirza is also the brother-in-law of PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja.
His resignation comes just two days after the passage of the 27th Amendment, which has been criticized as a “flagrant attack” on judicial independence by the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ). The move also follows the resignations of Supreme Court judges Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Athar Minallah, both of whom openly censured the amendment in their resignation letters.
The 27th Amendment has introduced significant changes in judiciary functioning, particularly regarding constitutional matters and judge transfers. It empowers the Judicial Commission of Pakistan to transfer high court judges without their consent, raising concerns within the judiciary. The legislation also established the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC), which will now handle key constitutional issues with binding authority over all courts, including the Supreme Court, effectively downgrading the SC’s status as the apex court for constitutional matters.
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Amid the ongoing reshuffle and speculation over possible judge transfers, Justices Mohsin Akhtar Kayani and Saman Rafat Imtiaz of the Islamabad High Court have indicated they may not be available to hear cases in the federal capital next month.
Justice Shams Mehmood Mirza’s resignation underscores the growing unease within Pakistan’s judiciary over the 27th Amendment and signals a critical moment in the country’s ongoing debate on judicial independence.
