The resignation came just hours after President Zardari signed the amendment into law on Thursday
Justice Mansoor Ali Shah (L) and Justice Athar Minallah (H). Photo: Files
President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday accepted the resignations of the Supreme Court’s most senior judges, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Athar Minallah, a day after both judges resigned in protest against the passage of the 27th constitutional amendment.
The President’s office confirmed the development in a brief statement issued on X.
President Asif Ali Zardari has accepted the resignations of Supreme Court judges Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Athar Minallah.
— President of Pakistan (@PresOfPakistan) 14 November 2025
The unprecedented resignations came just hours after President Zardari signed the bill into law on Thursday, sparking turmoil in the country’s top court and sparking widespread concern from the legal fraternity.
In his resignation letter, Justice Shah described the 27th Amendment as ‘a serious attack on the Constitution of Pakistan’ and warned that it had ‘fragmented the Supreme Court of Pakistan’.
He stated: “The Twenty-seventh Constitutional Amendment stands as a serious attack on Pakistan’s constitution. It dismantles the Supreme Court of Pakistan, subjects the judiciary to executive control and strikes at the very heart of our constitutional democracy – making justice more remote, more fragile to power and more vulnerable.”
Read: Supreme Court Justices Mansoor Ali Shah, Athar Minallah Resign After Passing 27th Amendment
Judge Shah said he could no longer uphold his oath while serving in a court stripped of its constitutional role. “I am unable to uphold my oath by sitting inside a court that has been stripped of its constitutional role; therefore, resignation becomes the only honest and effective expression of honoring my oath. To continue in such a version of the Supreme Court of Pakistan would only suggest that I traded my oath for titles, salaries or privileges.”
Invoking the constitution’s article 206, par. 1, he added: “For the reasons stated below and in accordance with Article 206(1) of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, I hereby resign from the office of Judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan with immediate effect.”
Justice Athar Minallah echoed similar concerns in his strongly worded resignation. He called it a privilege to have served the judiciary and said his oath compelled him to step down. “It has been my greatest honor and privilege to serve the people of Pakistan as part of its judiciary, and I have endeavored to the best of my ability to discharge my duties in accordance with my oath. Today, it is that very oath that compels me to tender my formal resignation.”
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Lamenting the state of the constitution, he stated: “The constitution which I swore an oath to uphold and defend is no more. As I have tried to convince myself to the contrary, I can think of no greater attack on its memory than to pretend that, when new foundations are now laid, they rest on nothing but its grave. For what remains of its spirit is not even a shadow that speaks of its spirit—not even a shadow that speaks of its spirit. of the people to whom it belongs.”
Concluding his letter, Justice Minallah wrote: “It is with this fervent hope that I now hang up these robes for the last time and tender my formal resignation from the office of Judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan with immediate effect.”
The resignations follow a wave of urgent letters and calls from Supreme Court judges, the bar association and senior members of the legal community calling for a reconsideration of the amendment. Many argued that the new law threatened the independence of the judiciary and risked changing the balance of constitutional powers.
