The recent establishment of a Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) in Pakistan marks a profound institutional shift within the country’s constitutional architecture. It is being presented as an effort to streamline judicial functions, resolve constitutional disputes with greater clarity, and reduce the Supreme Court’s overwhelming caseload, but this development must be evaluated against Pakistan’s historical, political, and civil–military backdrop.

Any interpretation of the reform needs to understand that the judicial history of Pakistan is neither institutionally neutral nor politically insulated. Instead, it is defined by recurring extra-constitutional interventions, court legitimisation of usurpation, and unpredictable returns to democracy. It is in this context that the inception of the FCC should be scrutinised.

Pakistan has always been marred by controversial jurisprudence, which has had a direct effect on the course of democratic governance in this country. The Court has on numerous occasions validated unconstitutional military takeovers under the so-called “doctrine of necessity,” thereby declaring three martial laws as successful revolutions as well as legitimising extra-constitutional regimes.

These decisions were not merely interpretive mistakes, as they completely changed the constitutional status quo, undermined parliamentary powers, and institutionalised the unelected elite as the ultimate overseer of political power. One of the most controversial judicial proceedings in the history of Pakistan, including the trial and execution of the first popularly elected Prime Minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was a case that was largely denounced as a judicial murder and influenced by political pressure rather than legal considerations.

There have been recent interventions which included the judicial dismissal of sitting prime ministers, deep involvement in executive policymaking, and varying levels of preferential treatment toward specific political factions. All these have led to a loss of trust in judicial neutrality by the people and have contributed to the perception of the judiciary as a place of political engineering.

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