ISLAMABAD: A special parliamentary committee, tasked with choosing a name for the new chief justice, on Tuesday met in Islamabad to deliberate upon a nominee for the post, amid a boycott of the proceedings by the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) members.
The committee, which was formed under the 26th constitutional amendment, is scheduled to pick a name out of the three senior-most Supreme Court judges for the post of the chief justice.
Pakistan’s incumbent top judge, Qazi Faez Isa, is set to retire on Friday. The three senior-most judges being considered for the key post include Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Yahya Afridi.
“The required number is present,” Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar told reporters outside the meeting room at the Parliament House on Tuesday evening.
“But despite that, we are democratic-minded people and the beauty of democracy is in inclusiveness and everyone uniting.”
Two PTI-affiliated lawmakers Gohar Khan and Senator Ali Zafar boycotted the committee’s proceedings, at which the meeting was postponed till 8:30pm to convince them to join the forum for their input on the key appointment.
The contentious constitutional amendment passed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif-led ruling coalition has generated a heated debate in the country, with opposition parties and prominent lawyers alleging the new law aims to curtail the judiciary’s independence.
The government rejects these allegations and says the amendments are aimed at empowering Pakistan’s parliament and providing speedy justice to the country’s citizens.
Law Minister Tarar said that 10 committee members were present in the initial meeting, adding that as per the constitution, eight lawmakers were required to decide on the chief justice’s appointment.
Legal experts say there are some clauses in the 26th constitutional amendment that are “problematic,” but it is much better than what was being anticipated.
“There are certain clauses that on the face of it seem to be curtailing the powers of the judiciary. We have also seen that in the past decade or so, judges have misused the power to appoint judges. They have appointed certain judges that were their own favorites,” Osama Malik, a lawyer, told Arab News.
“They deliberately appointed some judges earlier than other judges that they could then become chief justices of the country. The seniority was managed by the senior most judges of the supreme court and that was causing serious problems for everyone. Now perhaps some balance will be found and if not, we will have to rectify it again.”

PESHAWAR: Two men armed with daggers killed two transgender women at their home in conservative northwest Pakistan overnight before fleeing the scene, police said, a sign of increasing violence against trans people in the country.

The killings happened Sunday night in Mardan, a city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, local police chief Fahim Khan said. He said the motive behind the killings was unclear and officers are still investigating, and the victims had been buried at a local graveyard.

Khan said that two suspects had also been arrested in connection with the killings, but he refused to share any further details. Khan also refused to confirm or deny whether the men were directly involved in the attack.

Transgender people are often subjected to harassment, abuse and attacks in Muslim-majority Pakistan. They are also among the victims of so-called honor killings carried out by relatives to punish perceived sexual transgressions.

However, Pakistan's parliament in 2018 adopted the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act to secure the fundamental rights of transgender Pakistanis, including their access to legal gender recognition. But many in the country have entrenched beliefs on gender and sexuality, and trans people are often considered outcasts. Some are forced into begging, dancing and even prostitution to earn money. They also live in fear of attacks.

Pakistani authorities have also issued identification cards to transgender people.

Farzana Jan, president of the Trans Action rights group in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said that another nine trans people have been killed in gun attacks in the province since January.

She said that none of the attackers involved in the previous cases had been brought to justice, mainly because prosecutors didn't pursue the cases seriously.

The transgender community has threated to protest if the attackers aren't arrested.

“We have given a three-day deadline to the police for arresting those behind the latest killings in Mardan,” Jan said. “We will stage rallies if the killers of two members of our community are not arrested."

There are no exact figures about the number of trans people in Pakistan, but Jan estimated that about 75,000 live in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Mardan is located about 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of Peshawar.