Yousaf Raza Gillani – a brief profile geo.tv - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from geo.tv Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Judicial power play
The writer is a lawyer, formerly practising and teaching law in Lahore, and currently based in Singapore. He holds an LLM from New York University where he was a Hauser Global Scholar. He tweets @HNiaziii
When the sun sets on revolutionary uprisings, how the victors use their newfound power leaves a permanent imprint on the future.
Do they allow limitations to be saddled onto themselves; sacrificing power to uphold the ideal of the rule of law? Or do they seize upon their popularity to expand their authority in new directions?
The lawyers’ movement uprooted a dictatorship, but left behind a judicial structure which, while independent, was also activist in way that was unprecedented in Pakistan’s history. The Chaudhry Court, as it became known, often stepped into the shoes of the executive to give decisions on national policy, muddying the line between the executive and the judiciary through a long list of court decisions.