Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Omar Ayub resigned from his position on the Judicial Commission of Pakistan, citing legal battles as his reason.

Ayub and Shibli Faraz were appointed to the commission as the opposition leaders from the National Assembly and the Senate, respectively, following the 26th Constitutional Amendment.

The government narrowly passed constitutional amendments on October 21 giving lawmakers more power to appoint top judges, who have issued a series of recent decisions favouring opposition chief Imran Khan.

Under the reforms, new benches would be formed of senior judges from across the country to weigh exclusively on constitutional issues, at the core of disputes between the government and PTI in the Supreme Court.

In his resignation, Ayub has nominated PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan to take his place on the commission and he has formally communicated this to NA Speaker Ayaz Sadiq in a letter on Tuesday.

It stated that the PTI leader is “unable” to fulfil the commission’s responsibilities due to legal challenges.

“It is in the best interest of the institution for me to nominate someone else who can dedicate their full attention to this important role,” Ayub said and requested that his resignation be accepted promptly and that Gohar be appointed as a JCP member.

On Monday, sources said that PTI founder Imran Khan had made changes to the party’s representatives on the commission.

Also, read this

PTI’s Raja, Raza resign from their roles after Islamabad march fails to release Khan

Tensions ‘emerge over leadership, allegiances’ during PTI core committee meeting

PTI’s Sher Afzal Marwat hints at another protest in January

They added Ali Zafar would represent the party in commission meetings and replace Shibli Faraz from the Senate. Either Gohar or Latif Khosa has been selected to take Ayub’s place as the party representative.

According to the 26th Amendment, five members of Parliament are to be included in the judicial commission.

The nomination of names from Parliament is on the basis of equal representation from both the government and the opposition.