Judicial System

A five member bench of the epic court has suspended the SHC decision to remove Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s name from the ECL. Apart from going into the pros and cons of the case, one wonders as to how the SHC had given the verdict for the removal of the name and why has the SCP now given orders to the contrary. Did the SHC hear some other arguments and the SCP some other? Did the SHC apply some other law and the SCP some other? And if it was the same law then did the SHC interpret it differently and the SCP differently?  If it is only a matter of interpretation of the same law then does it mean that the honourable judges of the SC are more competent in interpreting the law than the honourable judges of the High Courts?  Weren’t they (SCP judges) once upon a time also the judges of similar high courts or even of still lower courts?  Were they then any lesser competent in interpreting the law than now?   If they are all the same and competent ! in every word of it, which they are,  then pray tell me what makes them interpret the law differently? Incidentally it is not in Pakistan only, it is all over the world that in most cases the decision of the lower court is reversed by the higher court!!

Col. Riaz Jafri (Retd)