President Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Asma Jahangir has said Federal Shariat Court (FSC) has disturbed the present judicial framework while carving a dominant role. In a press statement issued here Monday Asma Jahangir said by disturbing the judicial framework of the superior judiciary the FSC has itself advanced the argument of dispensing with parallel judicial systems in its judgement in titled case Mian Abdur Razzaq Aamir versus Federal government.
She said the judgement has indicated that at some future date it could further take over appellate jurisdiction on civil matters like inheritance and family laws. As such, it has hugely disturbed the present judicial framework leaving the High Courts and the Supreme Court with meager powers while carving an enormously dominant role for itself.
"The FSC is a parallel judiciary which can hardly be described as independent. Three out of eight of its judges of FSC are ulema who may have no formal training in law, which is worrying as most criminal appeals require knowledge of the law." Asma said. She said the judgement will also pose immense hardships for the litigants and lawyers as a huge number of criminal appeals and bails will be heard at the FSC, rather than in the High Courts. In addition, the Judgement has several legal flaws and disregards all previous precedents to the contrary, Asma added.