Bilawal Bhutto and Rana Sanaullah join Judicial Commission

Islamabad: Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, the Chairman of the PPP, and Rana Sanaullah, the Prime Minister's Adviser, have been nominated as members of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan on Friday. The two seats in the commission were vacated following the recent resignations of Senator Farooq H. Naek from the PPP and PML-N member Aftab Sheikh.

Bilawal and Rana will represent their respective houses - the National Assembly and the Senate - as members of the treasury benches. The appointments were made by Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, who is also the leader of the House in the National Assembly, and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Ishaq Dar, the leader of the House in the Senate, under Article 175A (2)(vii) of the Constitution.

The notification of the appointments was issued by the JCP, chaired by Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi. The commission will meet on October 13 to consider extending the term of the Sindh High Court's Constitutional Benches. The JCP is responsible for appointing judges to the Federal Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court, high courts, and the Federal Shariat Court.

It also evaluates the performance of high court judges. The commission was reconstituted under the 26th Amendment, including four members of parliament - two from the treasury and opposition benches each, one from the National Assembly and the other from the Senate. The commission comprises chief justices of the Supreme Court and Federal Shariat Court, the next most senior judge from each court, two judges from each court nominated jointly by the chief justices for a two-year period, the federal law minister, the attorney general for Pakistan, an advocate with at least 15 years of SC practice, and a non-Parliamentary member who is qualified to become a member of the Parliament.