This is apropos a Business Recorder news item “SC perturbed by PTI leadership’s snide remarks” carried by the newspaper yesterday. According to it, “Taking note of criticism of the Supreme Court’s verdicts, the Chief Justice of Pakistan said the Court functions 24 hours a day to dole out justice. CJP Umar Ata Bandial said the judges have taken oath to defend, safeguard, and protect the Constitution. ‘We do our duty. We are [a] court of law and function 24 hours a day,’ he added”.
The foregoing clearly indicates the higher judiciary’s deep concerns over former prime minister Imran Khan’s inappropriate and irresponsible reaction to Supreme Court’s verdict on National Assembly Deputy Speaker’s ruling on no-confidence motion against the prime minister. There are ways of criticising the Supreme Court.
The principal or most appropriate way is the following: the critic may propose some fundamental principles and say that the Supreme Court’s decision is inconsistent with these principles. Unfortunately, however, the former prime minister has been challenging the performance of the apex court as an institution. He cannot say that the court was fragmented and disregarded the precedent because it was a unanimous decision of a CJP-led five-member bench. Given the caseload of judiciary, the judges are not working just hard; they are, in fact, working harder.
A former High Court judge (Karachi)
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
Comments
Comments are closed.