[Recap, May 30 -- Part XI of this serial, over a year ago, underscored Pakistan's "complicit-oppressor judiciary's strengths, vulnerabilities and tiered approach to justice." It ended with a stark note that the judiciary "needed a volcanic shake-up; it needed to be reminded of the fate, met by Sisamnes, a judge during the reign of Cambyses II, the Iranian emperor from the Achaemenid dynasty (560 - 522 BC); and, of course, of the Divine Wrath."]

Pakistan's judiciary, instead of being an independent pillar of the state, often serves the interests of the ruling elite and wealthy individuals. This is primarily because self-interest, political patronage, external pressure, and institutional corruption take precedence over constitutional princ...