Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani Resigns, Saying His Conscience Does Not Permit Him to Stay on the Bench

Photo: IHC website via Geo News

Lahore High Court Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani resigned on Wednesday, saying his conscience does not permit him to stay on the bench while the executive tightens its control over the judiciary.

In a resignation letter to the president of Pakistan, Justice Kayani said the 26th and 27th Constitutional Amendments had damaged the independence and standing of the high courts. He also pointed to health concerns after a recent surgery, but made it plain that conscience was at the heart of his decision.

Main News Report

Dawn reports that Justice Kayani sent his resignation on Wednesday, years before his due retirement date of 10 February 2032. He said it had been a privilege to serve at the Islamabad High Court and the Lahore High Court, and that he had decided more than 23,000 cases while trying to uphold the Constitution and protect basic rights.

Then came the reason he could not stay. "In my considered view, the changes introduced through the 26th and 27th Constitutional Amendments have compromised the independence and institutional integrity of the high courts," he wrote. He added: "I have witnessed what I regard as the executive's growing control over judicial institutions, extending to the appointment and transfer of judges."

Justice Kayani said such interference had badly hurt public trust in the courts and in fair hearings. He spoke of the ordinary litigant, the person who goes to court seeking justice, as the main stakeholder in the system, yet one whose suffering keeps growing. "In these circumstances, my conscience does not permit me to continue on the bench," he wrote, calling it a painful decision.

He plans to return to legal practice, where he says he will keep serving people, defending their rights and spreading legal awareness. He thanked his teachers, fellow judges and family for their support while he made the decision.

• Who: Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Lahore High Court judge
• What: Resigned, citing conscience and executive control over the judiciary
• When: Wednesday 28 October 2026
• Key line: "My conscience does not permit me to continue on the bench"
• Retirement due: 10 February 2032, so he leaves years early

Background Context

Justice Kayani's path to this resignation runs through a long fight over judicial transfers. He was appointed an Islamabad High Court judge on 23 December 2015 and rose to senior puisne judge, the second most senior judge of that court. He had expected to become its chief justice.

In April this year he was moved to the Lahore High Court instead, along with two other judges, after a Judicial Commission meeting chaired by Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi approved the transfers. Justice Kayani lost his seniority in the move and stood 12th on the Lahore High Court's seniority list. Days before resigning, he was put on a single bench at the court's Rawalpindi registry after a reshuffle, even though he had once been the Islamabad High Court's second most senior judge.

He and other senior judges had challenged the administrative powers of Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar, saying the office had become a one-man show and judges could be left off the roster at will. The Supreme Court's constitutional bench had earlier upheld the transfers, including that of Justice Dogar.

Justice Kayani is also one of the six Islamabad High Court judges who wrote to the Supreme Judicial Council in March 2024, accusing the country's intelligence apparatus of meddling in judicial work, including pressure on judges through surveillance and the harassment of their families. On the Lahore High Court's own website, his record notes his work on enforced disappearance cases and his push for strict penalties for the practice.

Reactions and Statements

Geo News reports the same resignation, with a copy of the letter, and notes that Justice Kayani was among the three judges moved out of the Islamabad High Court in April.

No response from the federal government or the Lahore High Court had been reported by the time Dawn and Geo News published their reports. Reaction from bar councils and fellow judges is likely to follow, given how directly the letter speaks about the state of the judiciary.

Why This News Matters

For ordinary Pakistanis, this matters because courts are where people go when nothing else works. When a senior judge quits and says the courts are losing their freedom, it raises a plain question: can a litigant still get a fair hearing when the executive has a growing say in who sits on the bench and where they sit?

The 26th and 27th Amendments are the changes at the centre of this row. In plain words, they are changes to the Constitution that shifted how senior judges are picked and moved between courts. Supporters of the changes say they bring order to the system. Critics, and now Justice Kayani in his own words, say they hand the executive more control over judges.

For the legal world, the resignation also lands in the middle of unfinished business. The challenges to the transfers and to the chief justice's administrative powers are still live issues, and the judge who pressed them has now walked away from the bench.

PakInsight Hub has covered the courts closely this week, including the Lahore High Court order on Imran Khan's sisters and the wider Pakistan political scene in the Angoor Adda border firing and the Balochistan IBOs.

Future Developments

Three things come next. First, whether the president accepts the resignation and how fast. Second, what bar councils and fellow judges say in public, since a resignation letter this blunt rarely goes unanswered. Third, whether any other judge speaks out, or whether the courts' pending transfer cases move any faster now that one of the judges behind them has left the bench.

Justice Kayani's own next step is clear: back to legal practice, defending rights and promoting legal awareness, as he wrote in his letter.

Sources

Dawn: 'Conscience does not permit': LHC's Justice Kayani resigns, cites 'executive's growing control' over judiciary
Geo News: Justice Kayani resigns as LHC judge, cites 'executive's growing control' over judiciary

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