Judiciary of Pakistan


The judiciary of Pakistan is the national system of courts that maintains the law and order in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Pakistan uses a common law system, which was introduced during the colonial era, influenced by local medieval judicial systems based on religious and cultural practices. The Constitution of Pakistan lays down the fundamentals and working of the Pakistani judiciary.
Pakistan has two classes of courts: the superior judiciary and the subordinate judiciary. The superior judiciary is composed of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, the Federal Shariat Court and five High Courts, with the Supreme Court at the apex. There is a High Court for each of the four provinces as well as the federal capital. The Constitution of Pakistan entrusts the superior judiciary with the obligation to preserve, protect and defend the constitution. The autonomous and disputed territories of Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir have separate judicial systems from the main Pakistani system.
The independence of the Pakistani judiciary has changed over time. Whereas the judiciary used to defer to the Pakistani military, which is a dominant actor in Pakistan's politics, the judiciary has increasingly competed with and confronted the military.
The subordinate judiciary consists of civil and criminal district courts, and numerous specialized courts covering banking, insurance, customs and excise, smuggling, drugs, terrorism, taxation, the environment, consumer protection, and corruption. The criminal courts were created under the Criminal Procedure Code 1898, during the British Raj, and the civil courts were established by the West Pakistan Civil Court Ordinance 1962. There are also revenue courts that operate under the West Pakistan Land Revenue Act 1967. The government may also set up administrative courts and tribunals for exercising exclusive jurisdiction in specific matters.
As of 2017, Pakistan's judiciary is suffering from a backlog of two million cases, with lawsuits taking an average of nearly ten years to resolve. According to some estimates, 90 percent of civil cases involve land disputes, owing to Pakistan's lack of a proper land register.

Superior judiciary

Supreme Court of Pakistan

The Supreme Court, established in 1956, is the apex court in Pakistan's judicial hierarchy, the final arbiter of legal and constitutional disputes. The court consists of a Chief Justice and sixteen other judges. There is also provision for appointment of acting judges as well as ad hoc judges in the court. It has a permanent seat in Islamabad as well as branch registries in Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta and Karachi.
It has a number of de jure powers which are outlined in the constitution, including appellate and constitutional jurisdiction, and suo moto power to try human rights matters. Through several periods of military rule and constitutional suspensions, the court has also established itself as a de facto check on military power.
The Supreme Court Judges are supervised by the Supreme Judicial Council.
After the appointment of Justice Qazi Faez Isa, there has come a significant change in the working of the apex court of the land. In an unprecedented act, the judicial proceedings are now televised in order to show the country how the superior court of the land works. Additionally, following the amendments by the Parliament, the suo moto powers of the Chief Justice have been curtailed as now in order for a suo moto case to be initiated, the 3 senior most judges must be in agreement that the matter is indeed of public importance and the court must act upon its powers and take up the case.

Federal Shariat Court of Pakistan

The Federal Shariat Court of Pakistan is a constitutional Islamic religious court, established in 1980 to scrutinise all Pakistani laws and determine if they conform to Islamic values "as laid down in the Quran and the Sunnah". If a law is found to be 'repugnant', the Court notifies the relevant government, specifying the reasons for its decision. The court also has appellate jurisdiction over penalties arising out of Islamic law, although these decisions can be reviewed by the Shariat Appellate Bench of the Supreme Court. The decisions of the court are binding on the high courts as well as the subordinate judiciary. The court appoints its own staff and frames its own rules of procedure.
The court consists of eight Muslim judges, appointed by the President of Pakistan, on the advice of a judicial committee of the chief justices of the Supreme Court and the Federal Shariat Court. The committee chooses from amongst serving or retired judges of the Supreme Court or the high courts or from amongst persons possessing the qualifications of judges of a high court. Of the eight judges, three are required to be Islamic scholars/Ulema qualified in Islamic law. The judges serve terms of three years, subject to extension by the President. The current Chief Justice of the Federal Shariat Court is Justice Iqbal Hameed Ur Rehman.

High courts

There is a high court for the Islamabad Capital Territory and four provincial high courts. A high court is the principal court of its province.

Supreme Court of Azad Jammu and Kashmir

The highest court of appeals in Azad Jammu and Kashmir is the Supreme Court of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. There is a Chief Justice and two additional judges on the court.

Supreme Appellate Court Gilgit-Baltistan

The highest court of appeals in Pakistan's Gilgit Baltistan area is the Supreme Appellate Court Gilgit-Baltistan. There is a Chief Justice and two additional judges on the court.

High courts

District judiciary

District judiciary or district courts exist in every district of each province, and have civil and criminal jurisdiction ordinarily governed by Civil Procedure Code, 1908 for civil cases and by Code of Criminal Procedure in criminal cases. The administrative head of district judiciary is the 'district and sessions judge'. In each district headquarters, there are a number of courts of additional district and sessions judges having same judicial powers like the court of district and sessions judge, including trial for offences shown in schedule II of Code of Criminal Procedure as exclusively triable by the Court of Session i.e. Qatl e Amd, rape, defamation dacoity etc. These courts have also jurisdiction to try cases under the Hudood Laws of Pakistan, certain offences under Control of Narcotic Substances Act etc. These courts also work as ex officio Justice of Peace to entertain complaints against police officials. In civil jurisdiction these courts entertain the matters under Succession Act, Insolvency Act, suits for government, summary suits pertaining to negotiable instruments etc. These Courts are also civil appellate and criminal appellate courts. Civil and Family Appeals and Civil Revisions against the Judgements and orders of courts of senior civil judges, civil judges, rent controllers, and family courts are entertained by the court of district judge which transfers the same to additional district judges as well. All convictions awarded by judicial magistrates and convictions up to four years awarded by courts of assistant sessions judges or magistrates especially empowered under section 30 Cr.P.C. are appealable to a court of sessions judge which also transfer the criminal Appeals and criminal revisions to Additional Sessions Judges.
  • The high court of each province has appellate jurisdiction over the lower courts.
  • The Supreme Court has exclusive jurisdiction over disputes between and among provincial governments, and appellate jurisdiction over high court decisions.
Court usually starts early in the morning, with the hearing of pre-arrest bail applications, followed by post-arrest bail applications and civil appeals from the orders of the judicial magistrates' courts and civil judges. Decisions are usually announced later in the day, once the judge has had time to peruse the case files after the hearings. The rest of the day is allocated for the recording of the evidence in sessions cases such as in offences murder, rape and robbery etc. Cases are usually allotted by administrative orders of district and sessions judges. The court of the district and sessions judge usually hears administrative applications against lower courts orders.

Civil judge judicial magistrates' courts

In every town and city, there are numerous civil and judicial magistrates' courts. Normally in capacity of judicial magistrate these courts have the powers to try all offences other than those which are specifically triable by Court of Session but maximum limit for awarding sentence of improvement is not more than three years. However a judicial magistrate having special powers under section 30 of Code of Criminal Procedure can award all punishments except capital punishment. In civil capacity in the province of Sindh and Balochistan as a civil judge these courts have jurisdiction to entertain the claims of third-class suits having a pecuniary limit up to fifty thousand rupees. In other provinces civil judges have jurisdiction to entertain first- and second-class suits. Judicial magistrates possesses territorial jurisdiction police station wise as per notification issued by the Court of Session Judge. In magisterial functions judicial magistrates record statements on oath of witness, Judicial confession of accused, holds identification test parades, inquest proceedings of the prisoners. This court takes first cognizance of all offences of local laws, disposes of unclaimed properties or the movable properties suspected to be stolen.
In July 2025, President Asif Ali Zardari appointed new chief justices to all four provincial high courts, based on recommendations from the Judicial Commission of Pakistan. The appointees include Justice Sarfraz Dogar, Justice Rozi Khan Barrech, Justice Syed Muhammad Attique Shah, and Justice Junaid Ghaffar.
The JCP, after four consecutive meetings, endorsed the elevation of the acting chief justices, a move some observers see as reinforcing status quo preferences rather than promoting judicial reform or transparency. The appointments were formalized by the law ministry under Article 193 of the Constitution.
While constitutionally valid, the process has prompted quiet scrutiny over the influence of executive preferences in key judicial postings, raising ongoing concerns about judicial independence and institutional credibility in Pakistan’s legal framework.