ISLAMABAD, Mar 05 (APP): The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued a written order regarding termination of the Lahore High Court’s (LHC) verdict quashing the trial of former president Pervaiz Musharraf in the high treason case.
The SC, in the 16-page verdict authored by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, said, “The impugned judgment dated 13 January 2020 passed by the Lahore High Court, Lahore in Writ Petition No. 71713 of 2019 is not sustainable and is accordingly set aside by converting these petitions into appeals and allowing them. Detailed reasons shall be given later.”
It said, “The impugned judgment
passed by the Lahore High Court in sheer violation of the judgments and orders of this Court is, therefore, not only without jurisdiction but also unconstitutional.
“Particularly, we have noted that the Judges of the Special Court, who announced the final judgment on 17.12.2019, namely, Justices Waqar Ahmed Seth, 26 Nazar Akbar 27 and Shahid Karim, 28 were appointed with the approval of the Federal Government.
“The judges are not sovereigns with unfettered discretion but are guardians of the law, tasked with ensuring that justice is done according to established legal norms and principles. Their decisions must be guided by the law, precedents, and the facts before them, not by personal desires or objectives. A judge, in the pursuit of justice, cannot embark on a self-imposed crusade of right and wrong.
“He is not to innovate at pleasure. He is not a knight errant, roaming at will in pursuit of his own ideal of beauty or of goodness. He is to draw his inspiration from consecrated principles. He is not to yield to spasmodic sentiment, to vague and unregulated benevolence. He is to exercise a discretion informed by tradition, methodized by analogy, disciplined by the system, and subordinated to the primordial necessity of order in the social life.
“Thus, this ensures that justice is administered fairly, consistently, and predictably, thereby upholding the rule of law.”
A four-member larger bench headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa and comprising Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Amin ud Din Khan and Justice Athar Minallah had announced the short verdict into the case on January 10.
