There are five high courts of Pakistan, each based in the capital city of the
four provinces, plus one in the federal capital,
Islamabad
Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital T ...
. Articles 192 to 203 of the
Constitution of Pakistan outline the constitution of the courts, appointment of the judges, their oath of office, and jurisdiction of the high courts.
History
At the time of
partition in August 1947, the Lahore High Court, the
Dhaka High Court
The High Court Division, Supreme Court of Bangladesh ( bn, হাইকোর্ট ডিভিশন) popularly known as the 'High Court' is one of the two divisions of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, the other division being the Appellate ...
, the Chief Court of Sind and the Judicial Commissioner's Court in the North-West Frontier Province were deemed to be the four high courts of Pakistan.
In 1955, the Dhaka High Court and the Lahore High Court became the High Court of
East Pakistan
East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Scheme, One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India ...
and the
High Court of
West Pakistan
West Pakistan ( ur, , translit=Mag̱ẖribī Pākistān, ; bn, পশ্চিম পাকিস্তান, translit=Pôścim Pakistan) was one of the two Provincial exclaves created during the One Unit Scheme in 1955 in Pakistan. It was ...
, respectively. The West Pakistan High Court had benches at Karachi and Peshawar as well as circuit courts at Quetta (replacing the Judicial Commissioner in Balochistan) and Bahawalpur (replacing the High Court of Judicature at Baghdad-ul-Jadid).
As the province of West Pakistan was dissolved in 1970, three high courts were established: Lahore High Court, Peshawar High Court, and Sind and Balochistan High Court (with its principal seat at Karachi).
In 1976 the Sindh and Balochistan High Court was split into the High Court of Sind (Karachi) and the High Court of Balochistan (Quetta).
In 1985 the Lahore High Court had Benches at Bahawalpur, Multan and Rawalpindi; the High Court of Sind at Sukkur; the Peshawar High Court at Abbottabad and Dera Ismail Khan and the High Court of Baluchistan at Sibi.
In 2007, the
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...
proposed a fifth high court to cover the
Islamabad Capital Territory
The Islamabad Capital Territory ( ur, , translit=Vafāqī Dār-alhakūmat) is the only federal territory of Pakistan. Located between the provinces of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, it includes the country's capital city of Islamabad. The terri ...
.
This proposal was blocked by the
Lahore High Court
The Lahore High Court () is based in Lahore, Pakistan. It was established as a high court on 21 March 1882. The Lahore High Court has jurisdiction over Punjab (Pakistan). The High Court's principal seat is in Lahore, but there are benches ...
, but the decision was overturned by the
Supreme Court of Pakistan
The Supreme Court of Pakistan ( ur, ; ''Adālat-e-Uzma Pākistān'') is the apex court in the judicial hierarchy of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
Established in accordance to thePart VIIof the Constitution of Pakistan, it has ultimate ...
on 24 December 2007.
As a result of the
18th constitutional amendment, the
Islamabad High Court
The Islamabad High Court is the senior court of the Islamabad Capital Territory, Pakistan, with appellate jurisdiction over the following district courts:
* Islamabad District Court (East)
* Islamabad District Court (West)
Justice Aamer F ...
was established in 2010. The amendment also established the Mingora Bench of the Peshawar High Court and the Turbat Bench of the High Court of Baluchistan.
List of high courts
Autonomous territories high courts
See also
*
District courts of Pakistan
*
Anti Terrorism Court of Pakistan
The Anti Terrorism Court of Pakistan ( ur, عدالت انسداد دہشتگردی, ATC) was established in Pakistan, under Nawaz Sharif's government, to deal with terrorism cases.
1997 creation and subsequent amendments
The court had been cr ...
References
External links
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{{Judiciary of Pakistan
Court system of Pakistan