Iftikhar Chaudhry: the strategy of suo motu
Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhummad Chaudhry retires today. His retirement may bring to a close what some have called the ‘suo-motu reign’ of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Chaudhry, unlike his…
An anti-Chaudhry court?
Legal eye After the expansion and contraction of the Supreme Court’s moral authority under Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry’s watch, there emerged a sense that judges lower down in the SC…
Judging Chaudhry
How does one judge a person like Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and his chief justice ship?Pakistanis are still divided over their judgement about him. Some love him, some hate him and…
Judging Chaudhry
It is ungracious to take pot shots at someone walking into the sunset. But to refuse to take stock of the performance of a public office holder as remarkable as…
Mines and minerals
Since the good news of minerals worth trillions of dollars was announced, politicians of various hues went into action to oppose the exploration of newfound underground wealth. Politicians of the…
Chief justice’s challenges
“Great judges succeed most when they are praised not so much for the legal soundness of their work, but for the sit-up-and-take-notice boldness of their interventions”. — Allan Hutchinson, author “ASIF,…
Shattered ideals vs bitter pragmatism
Stricken by democratic ideals for decades, one is faced with harsh, unbeatable realities in Pakistan. Our heroes shatter ideals, and bitter pragmatism haunts us. If pragmatism is to be believed,…
Diluted opposition
IT is worth understanding why despite large-scale and detrimental changes to judicial independence, widespread electoral manipulation last February, and severe curtailment of civil liberties in various forms, resistance to these acts has…
Essential judgments
WHILE almost all employers in Pakistan engage third-party contractors to carry out some or most of their work, many are not aware as to what type of work they can…
Courting verdicts
THE court verdict is in and it seems to have gone overwhelmingly in PTI’s favour; most of the judges felt the party continues to exist as an entity and that it was…
