The Supreme Court dismissed petitions on Thursday that challenged proposed constitutional amendments after the petitioners decided to withdraw them.
The government's constitutional package aims to create a federal constitutional court and set a three-year term for the Chief Justice of Pakistan.
A three-member bench, led by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, heard the case. The petition was filed by Abid S. Zubairi, former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), and other members of the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC).
During the hearing, lawyer Hamid Khan asked to withdraw the petitions, which prompted the Chief Justice to question why the original petitioners were not present to withdraw themselves.
Zubairi and others had filed the petition on September 16, asking the court to declare that the principles of separation of powers and judicial independence are fundamental rights that cannot be altered by Parliament. They argued that the proposed amendments violated the Constitution and requested the court to stop the federal government from presenting the bill in Parliament.
Other petitioners had also challenged these amendments in the Supreme Court and various high courts across the country.
Notably, just a day before the withdrawal, prominent political parties—including the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-f) —reached an agreement on the amendments.