Legalising Authoritarianism through Pakistan’s Supreme Court - The May 7 Verdict
Khan, Muhammad Asif
Author
aut
Text
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2025
Verfassungsblog
2025-06-18
eng
On 7 May 2025, Pakistan’s Supreme Court overturned its own previous judgment from October 2023 that had declared military trials of civilians unconstitutional. The newly constituted Constitutional Bench reinstated clauses of the Pakistan Army Act that allow for the prosecution of civilians in military courts. The ruling was justified on national security grounds, citing the need to prosecute attacks by civilians on military installations, a rationale that conflates dissent with terrorism and bypasses the safeguards of civilian legal processes. This decision not only reverses prior precedent but also marks a troubling endorsement of military jurisdiction over civilian matters, raising fundamental concerns about the erosion of judicial independence and the rule of law.
CC BY-SA 4.0
Khan, Muhammad Asif
Authoritarian Populism
Authoritarianism
Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistani Supreme Court
judicial independence
Pakistan
342
https://verfassungsblog.de/legalising-authoritarianism-through-pakistans-supreme-court/
Verfassungsblog
2366-7044
Max Steinbeis Verfassungsblog gGmbH
10.59704/ad81eeea1c5333cf
250618
10.59704/ad81eeea1c5333cf
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