Reflections on a complicated legacy
Examining approaches former judges employed over the last 10 years reveals far-reaching impacts of judicial overreach
ISLAMABAD:
Since the restoration of judges in March 2009 through the lawyers movement, exercising of public interest jurisdictions under Article 184 (3) of the constitution by the Supreme Court (SC) have remained under severe criticism.
Seven former chief justices, namely Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Tassaduq Hussain Jilani, Nasirul Mulk, Jawwad S Khawaja, Anwar Zaheer Jamali, Mian Saqib Nisar and Asif Saeed Khosa, worked for the purpose after the judiciary’s restoration through a mass movement of political parties and lawyers that year.
During their respective tenures, there has been consistent concern that the superior judiciary encroached in the domain of executive and legislature. Instead of focusing on improving the justice system in order to implement Article 37-d, the superior judiciary largely gave priority to issues o