Pakistan, May 19 -- The Supreme Court of Pakistan has ruled that multiple life sentences awarded by a sessions court in a single trial shall, as a general rule, run consecutively unless the court specifically orders them to run concurrently.

The apex court further held that paragraph 40 of the judgment in the "Shah Hussain case" does not constitute a binding precedent regarding the interpretation of Section 35 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, while the five-member bench ruling in the "Bashir versus The State" case remains valid and enforceable law.

A three-member bench headed by Justice Muhammad Hashim Khan Kakar, and comprising Justice Salahuddin Panhwar and Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim, issued a detailed judgment dismissing a jail petiti...