Visibly annoyed, Pakistan's Chief Justice Saqib Nisar picks up a dirty steel bowl, displays it to a barrage of TV cameras, slams it against a rack, and shouts: "You serve food in it?" The outburst was captured during a recent visit to inspect patients and their living conditions at a hospital psychiatric ward in the northwestern city of Peshawar - one of a series of trips around the country in what Nisar has termed a crusade against corruption and bad governance.
With TV channels following his every move and lapping up his verbal barbs, CJP Nisar has become a thorn in the side of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and its founder Nawaz Sharif, whose third stint as prime minister was cut short in July when the Supreme Court disqualified him in the Panama Papers case.
Sharif and his family now face corruption charges that could see the veteran leader jailed, and there is a growing concern within PML-N ranks that the judiciary could dent the party's electoral prospects in a general election on July 25.
"The present scenario, the way the judiciary is interfering in the executive's work ... the governments can't work like this," said outgoing Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, speaking at a news conference on Monday after the election was called at the weekend.
CJP Nisar has used "suo motu" provision - which allows him to take up cases on his own initiative - to launch inquiries ranging from the payment of sugar cane farmers by mills and increases in milk prices to allegations of corruption in the running of the country's railways and national airline.
He points out such cases, and his frequent public appearances to inspect development projects and public facilities such as schools and hospitals - rare for a sitting chief justice - are aimed at protecting the poor.
"We have to fight for those people who unfortunately don't have means to get their rights," the CJP said, addressing lawyers early this year.
He is not the first activist chief justice. Indeed, his high media profile has drawn parallels with the then chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, who initially won plaudits for helping oust military dictator Pervez Musharraf in 2008, but was later criticised for overstepping his constitutional remit.
PML-N insiders and some analysts say CJP's assertiveness smacks of judicial overreach and hints at a return to Pakistan's past, when they say the judiciary cut politicians down to size at the behest of the powerful military.
"With their specific targeting of PML-N, this would undermine fair play in election, and squeeze Nawaz Sharif," Ayesha Siddiqa, an author and political analyst, told Reuters.
"The judicial decisions are a strong signal as to where the powerful establishment will lay their eggs this time."
The military did not reply to requests for a comment. The army has previously said it does not interfere in politics.
CJP Nisar's office did not respond to requests for comment. The CJP has also taken on the Opposition.
"Punjab government did nothing in the last 10 years," CJP Nisar said from the bench in March.
He also removed PML-N Information Minister Maryam Aurangzeb, who has been critical of the judiciary, from a parliamentary committee that regulates the media.
"The committee can't be independent as long as she is a member," he said.
The CJP's actions have delighted the opposition.
"We're happy that Supreme Court is upholding the supremacy of law in this country," Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party leader Imran Khan told reporters after the court barred Sharif from holding party office for life in April.
But many within the legal profession are unnerved.
"A considerable number of lawyers, including myself, don't see this activism as a positive step," said Ali Ahmad Kurd, former
president of the Supreme Court Bar Association.
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