Politics

Farooq Naek Steps Down from Judicial Commission of Pakistan

By Nasir Iqbal

Farooq H. Naek, a senior PPP figure and long‑time senator from Sindh, has resigned from the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP), the constitutional body that appoints judges to the country’s superior courts. In a one‑page letter addressed to Senate Chairman Yousuf Raza Gilani and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Naek said he was stepping down due to personal commitments. He thanked the Senate for appointing him to the JCP from the treasury benches, calling the role a “great honour and privilege.”

Naek has taken part in several JCP proceedings that selected judges for the Supreme Court and various high courts. As a lawyer, he represented PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto‑Zardari in the Supreme Court over the presidential reference moved by former President Asif Ali Zardari in the murder case of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. He has also appeared in a range of constitutional petitions before the Supreme Court, including matters on reserved seats, accountability law amendments, presidential immunities and provincial assembly disputes.

Although his association with the PPP spans three decades, he rose to prominence while defending former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and her husband Zardari in corruption and criminal cases during the rule of former military dictator Pervez Musharraf. As law minister, he defended the federal government in the high‑profile graft case against Zardari, and later complied with Supreme Court directions by sending a letter to Swiss legal authorities in November 2012 to reopen the National Reconciliation Order case.

Naek has served as a senator since 2003. He was appointed law minister after the 2008 general elections and was reappointed in April 2012 following his three‑year term as Senate chairman.