QUETTA: Senior lawyers from Balochistan have opposed the proposed 26th constitutional amendment and warned of countrywide protests if the government doesn`t withdraw its decision to table the legislation in the parliament.

Speaking at the joint press conference, Lawyers` Joint Action Committee leaders said the Constitution was a social contract, and the public should have the authority to decide changes being made to it.

Ex-president of Supreme Court Bar Association Ali Ahmed Kurd, Pakistan Bar Council`s Rahib Ahmed Buledi and Balochistan Bar Association president Muhammad Afzal Harifal addressed the media.

They said lawyers had consistently raised their voices against dictators and martial law `even when political parties remained silent`.

`The most powerful pressure group in Pakistan is the lawyers, supported by civil society, students, and various segments of society,` Mr Kurd added.

They said most clauses in the constitutional amendment were related to the judiciary,and therefore, bar associations should be consulted on the issue.

`Today, courts are being undermined, and new courts are being created at will by those who lack constitutional legitimacy [and yet] are insisting on amending the Constitution,` Mr Kurd said.

He stressed that the existing Constitution has failed to provide basic rights to the people and that `thousands are missing` in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and other regions.

Across Pakistan, lawyers are resisting the amendments, saying that they will `lead to devastation`.

`If Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the Pakistan People`s Party endorse [these amendments], their democratic credibility will be nullified,` Mr Kurdsaid, adding the role of JUI-F emir Maulana Fazlur Rehman on this issue was also `commendable`.

Mr Kurd claimed senators were being `blackmailed` to vote in favour of these constitutional amendments.

Advocate Buledi announced that the Karachi Lawyers` Action Committee has announced a nationwide protest movement and stressed that constitutional amendments which concern the judiciary should be made in consultations with bar associations.

The lawyers also questione d the delay in issuing the notification of Justice Mansoor Ali Shah`s appointment as chief justice when the confirmation of the incumbent top judge, Qazi Faez Isa, was issued 88 days before his term started.