Assault on HEC! on April 26, 2021Power of the President to promulgate ordinances was not envisaged as a substitute to a legislative power of the parliament. The ordinances cannot be used as a tool to usurp the will of the people, much less, to undermine autonomy of the administrative agencies. If the will of the people can so easily be brushed […]
Things Fall Apart II on March 3, 2021Lawyers are not allowed to enter the High Court premises. We need to satisfy the law enforcement personnel that we have a case to argue before we are allowed in. The policeman at the gate verifies the credentials of the lawyer; checks if the lawyer is not one of the suspected terrorists as he skims […]
Things fall apart on February 15, 2021We are all used to vukulagardi by now. It does not even register as a news – which is alarming by itself. But for lawyers to even outdo themselves – that is rare – still. In Islamabad, on 8th February, goons in black coats damaged the Islamabad High Court building, attacked employees of the High […]
The desi harassers on January 26, 2021The two female owners, as they claimed, of this modest café in Islamabad, which by the bye, serves average food, mocked their manager in glaring public view for his English. As they mocked Owais, they also filmed him and shared with the world their friendly “banter”. Their idea of fun did not quite get the […]
Disqualification on ground of defection on January 19, 2021The constitution of a country isn’t a perfect document. It is true for Pakistan as well. It is for this reason the theory of constitution being a “living document” was created. It allows the judges to interpret the document in accordance with the socio-political climate of an era. At times, judicial interpretation isn’t what the […]
Advisory jurisdiction of the Supreme Court on January 8, 2021Our constitution entrusts the Supreme Court with different jurisdiction. The apex court, under our scheme of constitution, exercises appellate and review jurisdiction, supervisory jurisdiction, original jurisdiction, and advisory jurisdiction. In this space the writer of this column, and elsewhere, much has been written about the original jurisdiction. And the need to determine its contours and […]
Of restraint on November 7, 2020“The dignity of an independent judge nor his or her integrity is so frail and vulnerable so as to be harmed by a tweet on the social media platform” read the order of the Chief Justice Islamabad High Court, as it affirmed the objection qua maintainability of the contempt petition filed to lay before the […]
Judicial Records on August 6, 2020Every word uttered by a lawyer and each remark made by the judge during each hearing of a case needs to be documented and treated as part of the judicial record. And that judicial record of the proceedings should be archived in both audio files and the form of written transcripts. Besides, the judicial record […]
The upshot of media neutrality on May 3, 2020“It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either of them.” Mark Twain certainly did not contemplate a Pakistani society when he wrote these words but they resonate with present day Pakistan. When […]
Where roses run blood on April 13, 2020Where roses run blood I Kashmir is a saga of unspeakable horrors. In a tale that has metamorphosed for over centuries and climaxed each time into a tragedy, there are only victims. But if one were to identify a villain – of all the invaders, usurpers and colonial megalomaniacs, Nehru stands out. He emerges as […]