The Supreme Court of Pakistan reserved judgement in petitions relating to the recently passed review of judgements bill.

A three-member bench including Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Muneeb Akhtar and Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan reserved the verdict after Attorney General Mansoor Awan completed his arguments on Monday. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s lawyer Ali Zafar has already completed his arguments.

The chief justice remarked that the the parliament undoubtedly reserved the right to make laws in the country, but the court would have to take certain facts into account.

The attorney general argued that the court had power to review under Article 188 and there was no limit on that power. He said that cases and reviews under Article 184(3) should not be treated as the same.

The chief justice also questioned if the new review bill could create a distinction in different cases.

In response, the attorney general said that the impression that some people could be exploited by the law was not accurate.

Justice Bandial asked the AG to explain his arguments in detail and said that the whole constitution could not be ignored for one constitutional point.

The CJP also said that while it was agreed upon that the parliament could expand the scope of review by unanimously passing a bill, the point under discussion was whether there was ample reson to do so.

The AG said that simply providing the right of review did not do anythng to change the facts of a case. He said that even if new arguments were made during the review, the facts of the case would still remain the same.

Barrister Ali Zafar said that the actual question at hand was whether the law that had been made could be made through a bill or did it require a constitutional amendment. He added that the attorney general had not answered this question.

The court then asked the parties to submit the points of their arguments in writing and reserved the verdict.