Baba Rehmatay’s judiciary on March 21, 2018Parliament is supreme. This stance offers a major challenge to parliament’s two competitors, the army and the judiciary — a case comprehensively dealt with in Article 6 of the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan. Since the beginning of this year, one can notice an effort launched by the higher judiciary to belittle the parliament under one […]
Judiciary’s Baba Rehmatay on March 14, 2018Compared to the past when politics used to unfold its theme of recognition, the judiciary is now venting the same. On March 9, while heading a bench hearing the suo moto notice case (related to a fee-hike for admission into medical colleges)at the Supreme Court (SC) Lahore registry, Chief Justice Saqib Nisar said, ‘Let me […]
The judicial farce on March 9, 2018On 21 February 2018, invoking Article 184 (3) of the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan, a bench of the Supreme Court (SC) consisting of Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Ijazul Ahsan issued its detailed judgement on the Election Act 2017. The judgement, which got released to the public officially, comprised 51 […]
Judicial politics on March 5, 2018Pakistan is a highly politicised society where even entertainment is presented in a politicised manner by news channels. On February 27, 2018, the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Mian Saqib Nisar, while hearing the case regarding drug prices, said, “I swear to God that I have no political agenda”. No one believed him. People did not […]
Judicial relevance on February 21, 2018The judicial activism launched by Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Saqib Nisar makes it seems like he is out in the field to establish his relevance. However, it seems as if the people of Pakistan seem irrelevant to the higher judiciary. “Fundamental rights” is a beguiling term that masks lame excuses of every sort. […]
Judicial waste on February 14, 2018On February 6, 2018, outgoing Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court Justice Mansoor Ali Shah addressed a full court reference in his honour on his elevation to the Supreme Court (SC). Justice Mansoor Ali Shah stated, “The inner mafia in every institution supports the status quo and puts up resistance to change and reforms.” […]
Judicial accountability on February 6, 2018Judges are also subject to law. Though this simple point is yet to be recognised in Pakistan, a step has been taken in this direction on February 1 by Justice Muhammad Farrukh Irfan Khan of Lahore High Court (LHC), while hearing a writ petition against an administrative decision of the Chief Justice of the LHC, […]
Judicial competence on February 1, 2018On 20 April 2017, when the Panama case judgement was issued with one of the two dissenting remarks written by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, who borrowed a quote from The Godfather, ‘Behind every great fortune, there is a crime,’ the supporters of the judgment cited the remarks-making practice prevalent in the Supreme Court (SC) of […]
Judicial activism on January 25, 2018Judicial activism is back with a vengeance, and this time it is being spearheaded by Justice Saqib Nisar, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP). Certain questions pique one’s mind about this scenario. For instance, Justice Saqib Nisar assumed the charge of the Supreme Court on December 31, 2016, but he has been found active for the […]
Lahore’s Wednesday show on January 21, 2018The frequent but furtive Toronto meetings reified into the London plan have come a long way since August 2014.The plan was made with the aim of bringing the incumbent government under pressure to spare General Pervez Musharraf the clutches of Article 6. The recourse adopted was to undermine the legitimacy of the incumbent government – […]