Restoring judicial clout

IN a country with a supreme Constitution and a chapter on fundamental liberties, it is the duty of the superior courts to preserve, protect and defend the basic law against any institution or person that lays rash hands upon the ark of the Constitution. The courts must enforce fundamental rights and the federal-state division of powers.

This multi-faceted activism was given a devastating blow in 1988 when five superior court judges were suspended and three, including the Lord President, were dismissed in disregard of constitutional standards. A nail was hammered in the judicial coffin by amending Article 121(1) to take the “judicial power” away from the courts and to instruct the judiciary to perform only such functions as were assigned to it by federal law.