By Ali Imran
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has swiftly disposed of 238 death sentence appeals — over 52% of the 454 pending cases by May 21, 2025.
When Chief Justice Yahya Afridi took office, 410 death-sentence cases were pending, 44 new appeals were instituted, bringing the figure to 454, but swift fixation and disposal have cut it down to 216 as of today. By comparison, in the same period a year earlier, only 26 such appeals were resolved. This turnaround stems from the Chief Justice’s strategic focus on long-pending, extendable hours to hear these cases.
Three dedicated benches were constituted which worked for many weeks back to back: Bench I, headed by Justice Athar Minallah with Justice Irfan Saaadat Khan and Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmad Khan; Bench II, led by Justice Muhammad Hashim Kakar with Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim and Justice Ali Baqar Najafi; and Bench III, chaired by Justice Naeem Afghan with Justice Salahuddin Panhwar and Justice Aamer Farooq.
The judges comprising these benches convened prolonged sittings, frequently extending beyond normal court working hours. The unwavering commitment of Judges has culminated in the huge disposal of all death appeals instituted up to 2024.
The court will now proceed as the next phase to the cases of life-imprisonment appeals, preferential hearing such cases where the convict has already served two-thirds of the sentence—an approach designed to afford prompt relief to deserving appellants while reinforcing public confidence in the even-handed administration of criminal justice. The supreme court acknowledges the valuable cooperation of counsel, prosecutors, prison officials, and families whose patience and professionalism resulted in this progress. Their combined commitment demonstrates that, with focused and collaborative resolve, the justice system can translate in commendable output.
