On Saturday, August 01, 2009, four of the five judges in the Balochistan High Court attended offices, ignoring the Supreme Court’s orders of their appointments’ validation. They met high court officials and set up two division benches for hearing cases on Monday.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan had lately invalidated the appointment of the judges who had taken oath under the PCO in General Musharraf’s rule. Of the five judges of the Balochistan High Court (BHC), whose appointments were thus invalidated, four attended their offices as usual while one remained absent. The cases of these fives judges have been sent to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) for a final decision. The judges in question have said that they would continue to work as before till the SJC decided their cases.

On the contrary, three of the benches of the Lahore High Court (LHC) have decided to stop working from Monday onwards due to a shortage of judges following the Supreme Court’s invalidation of appointments that implies the removal of 40 judges. These benches are located in Rawalpindi, Multan, and Bahawalpur.