A 'reverse-Ginsberg' scenario could flip the Supreme Court without packing

In Islamabad, a three-member Supreme Court bench led by Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, alongside Justices Musarrat Hilali and Shahid Bilal Hassan, issued an eight-page judgment on Saturday restoring two civil revisions. These revisions had previously been dismissed for non-prosecution because the petitioner’s counsel was unable to appear due to a Coronavirus infection.

The court set aside a February 23, 2026, Lahore High Court decision that had rejected the restoration applications, converting the civil petitions into appeals.

Justice Mazhar observed that absolute vigilance by an advocate is a "foundational requirement" for protecting a client's case from dismissal. The judgment noted the legal maxim "Vigilantibus et non dormientibus jura subveniunt," implying that the law assists the vigilant rather than those who neglect their rights. Dawn reports that the court previously expressed regret last September when litigants and counsel treated the court's leniency as a procedural formality and disregarded categorical directives.

Brief written by urgent.news from The Hill, Dawn - Pakistan, Dawn — 3 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.