Session 11- The Judiciary

     By definition, the judiciary is the branch of the government that is empowered to decide legal disputes. It is the system of courts that interprets and implements laws in the name of the state. According to Heywood, one of the most important characteristics of a judiciary is that judges are strictly independent and non-political actors. The concept of judicial independence also plays a vital role in political systems in the sense that there is a strict separation between the judiciary and other branches of the government.

      Where the executive and judiciary should be separate and the decisions of judges should not be influenced by the ruling party or any politician for that matter, Pakistani judges seem to have a slightly different concept of how a state works. In 2007, President Musharraf had the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar Chaudhary suspended on the grounds of corruption, seeking favours and for interfering with the executive branch. Musharraf did not hide the fact that he wanted to get rid of the Chief Justice because Chaudhary had made it very clear that he would not support Musharraf in securing another 5 year term as President through the Supreme Court- which his predecessors had done earlier. The Chief Justice was reinstated after the Supreme Court ruled in his favour and deemed Musharraf’s actions to suspend him illegal. As a result, Musharraf declared a state of emergency and disbarred all the judges.

    The suspension of the Chief Justice by President Musharraf is one of the few examples of the judiciary becoming involved with other branches of the government. The judiciary should maintain an objective stance when it comes to the politics of a state. If the judiciary is so heavily influenced by the executive and cannot make an unbiased decision, then the whole concept of judicial independence is invalid.