Law experts conflict over 18th Amendment future

ISLAMABAD A row among the top guns of lawyers movement, Aitzaz Ahsan, Hamid Khan and Akram Sheikh, has emerged over the 18th Amendment Law that whether or not the Parliament has the authority to amend the basic features of the Constitution.
They also have a conflicting view over a point whether or not any court of law can be moved in case any such amendment occurs.
Aitzaz opined that the Parliament was empowered to change the fundamentals of the Constitution and the apex court could not nullify the Constitutional amendment, while Akram Sheikh had filed a petition on behalf of Advocate Nadeem Ahmed in the SC challenging the establishment of the judicial commission through the 18th Amendment. The SCBAs former president said formula of judges appointment does not harm the independence of the judiciary, as the names of the judges will be proposed not by the parliamentary committee but by the Judicial Commission headed by the CJP.
Aitzaz said the apex court can only give suggestions regarding the amendments but cannot amend the constitution by its own. Ahsan argued, according to the Article-238, 239 neither any Constitutional amendment can be challenged in any court nor the powers of the SC to hear petition. It was 2005 Lawyers Forum case verdict, where the court ruled that the SC could not overrule the Constitutional amendment, Ahsan said, adding the LFO was challenged in that case. Zafar Ali Shah is the only case, which sets limits for the constitutional amendments but these restrictions were meant not for the Parliament but for a single person i.e. Gen (Retd.) Pervez Musharraf.
Hamid Khan contradicted with Ahsans arguments and said that such judicial commission did not exist anywhere in the world, adding that if Indian Supreme Court could nullify Indian Parliaments amendment then why not Supreme Court of Pakistan could not do so. He said that within a week SCBA would file a petition in the SC against 18th Amendment.
Ahsan said he respects the Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry more than the President and the Prime Minister. The Parliament was established due to the lawyers movement, Aitzaz remarked, adding it was lawyers movement that forced Musharraf to leave the country.