From Restoration to Activism: A Case of Judiciary in Pakistan, 2007-18

Abstract

Role of judiciary had been critical and it could not come up with the provision of justice in newly born Pakistan since 1947. It felt a prey to the conspiracies of the bureaucrats, politicians and the privileged class that gave birth to the unjust trends within Pakistani society. It had been validating many unlawful and illegal amendments in the constitution which distorted the image of Pakistan as a democracy. Additionally, the judiciary had diverted attentions towards the troubled state affairs instead of paying heed to provide the public with justice which is a necessary element for a modern state to make progress by leaps and bounds in political, social, economic and religious spheres. It took almost six decades to judiciary to restore its image as a transparent institution of the state. Focus of this study is the duration of Lawyers’ movement of 2007 to the government of Nawaz Sharif (2013-18) when judiciary was on the top. The research has given background of the judicial history in Pakistan to make a comparison of level of ‘judicial activism’ to that of years of revival and Nawaz era. No doubt, some of the steps taken by judiciary proved faulty for the state during these years but most of its steps supported the process of nation-building. Qualitative method has been adopted to analyse the topic; published books, research articles, surveys, reports, news-posts and magazines have been consulted. The study is a guide for the students of judicial history of Pakistan, policy-makers, readers and researchers who are eager to conduct research on the judicial activism in Pakistan.