Supreme Court hears the Ahmadi Supplementary Lists Petition

The Supreme Court of Pakistan's Bench No. 1 comprising the Honourable Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, Mr. Justice Gulzar Ahmad and Mr. Justice Azmat Saeed is hearing what is in this writer's opinion the most important case which covers the issue of citizenship rights as these interact with voting rights.

Power of Judicial Review

First published in The Friday Times.

By Yasser Latif Hamdani

During his confirmation hearings, Judge John Roberts, the Chief Justice of the United States of America, famously admitted that he was aware of the fact that millions of people had elected the US Congress and not even one person had voted for the Supreme Court. More recently, in the now famous Obamacare judgment pronounced on June 28, Roberts declared that it was not the job of the Supreme Court to "protect people from their political choices". Such is the deference for the legislative branch of the government in the country that literally invented the doctrine of judicial review.

Open Letter to the Chief Justice of Pakistan

My Lord, 

I write to your Lordship as a lawyer who participated in a meagre capacity in the Lawyers’ Movement. We stood up then for the Supreme Court of Pakistan because in your Lordship we found a chief justice who was willing to say ‘no’ to the demands of a military dictator. When history is recorded, your Lordship will be credited as being responsible for initiating and executing the end game for Pakistan’s last military dictator and for laying the foundation of sustainable constitutional civilian rule in Pakistan. Therefore, your Lordship’s place in history is assured and unshakeable.

Privacy, Media and Pakistani Law

By Yasser Latif Hamdani

Two recent episodes have driven home that the people of Pakistan do not wish to live their lives in fear of misdirected religiosity and misguided zeal. The first one was the incident pertaining to Maya Khan and her ill-advised intrusion into the private lives of citizens. The second incident was where another such vigil-aunty from the Punjab Assembly moved a resolution to ban musical concerts at educational institutions in the province. Both these moves were heavily criticised and were widely denounced by the people.