The unease has left PTI struggling to decide whether to plead its own matters there, even as more than 20,000 cases shift from the Supreme Court.
PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja, while speaking on Tuesday, said that internal consultations were still underway on whether to proceed before the FCC or boycott it. He added that no final decision had been taken so far.
His remarks come as dozens of PTI cases have already been transferred to the FCC from the SC, and the matters are considered crucial for the party. Since the passage of the 26th Constitutional Amendment, PTI has struggled to secure relief from the courts.
A PTI lawyer also told The Express Tribune that debate continued within the party’s legal team on whether they should appear before the FCC. However, a majority of members favour appearing and raising legal objections before the court.
The uncertainty was echoed in proceedings before the FCC on Tuesday, when Sameer Khosa, counsel for Salman Akram Raja, appeared before a six-member bench led by Justice Aamer Farooq.
Khosa told the bench that he had advised his client about concerns regarding the independence of the court.
“My client now needs to consider my advice and decide whether he wants to pursue the matter, give fresh instructions, or arrange alternate legal representation, if necessary,” he further stated.
Meanwhile, the Lawyers Action Committee, led by the Professional Group, also failed to reach a consensus on whether to boycott the FCC during its last meeting.
Barrister Salahuddin Ahmed told The Express Tribune that he would not plead government cases before the FCC, though he would assess whether to appear in other matters. He recently declined a request from the Sindh government to represent it before the FCC.
In a letter to the Sindh law secretary, Salahuddin wrote that due to the change in forum and “on account of various concerns raised by different bars about the excessive level of government control over judicial appointments to the Federal Constitutional Court,” he did not consider it possible for him to represent the Sindh government before the court.
In a telling sign, none of the bar associations that challenged the 26th Constitutional Amendment in the SC has yet approached the FCC against the 27th Amendment. “That shows that the bar has serious reservations on the independence of the newly established court whose judges are being appointed by the executive sans any criteria,” a lawyer said.
Even those who backed the 27th Amendment are now expressing unease about the selection of judges for the FCC.
The Pakistan Bar Council and the Supreme Court Bar Association, both headed by the Independent Group, have also stated that they are closely watching the entire process, particularly judicial appointments, and will register their concerns through decisions and general-house resolutions whenever required.