Pakistan's judicial crisscross has been recast.

The latest short order on behalf of the Supreme Court striking down a piece of legislation that provided blanket immunity to a host of government personal, elected and otherwise, from prosecution in contempt proceedings has stuck the government too hard. Perhaps it has brought to an end the maneuvering through which the executive wanted to save its skin in refusing to reopen graft cases against the President, and defend the Prime Minister, and the cabinet, from being indicted again under contempt of court.

The decision of the court, not surprising at least for the legal community, has brought with it a renewed deadline for Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, apparently obliging him to write to the Swiss authorities for reopening money-laundering cases against the sitting head of state. To what extent, once again, will the government try to seek refuge behind the argument of immunity for the President, as stipulated under the constitution, but had always been contested on grounds of interpretation, is an issue of debate. However, if the modus operandi of governance is any criterion, it can be easily assumed that the government will cross swords with the judiciary. It will even not mind another chief executive being indicted and, subsequently convicted, because in it the ruling political dispensation sees a martyr complexion for itself.

With hardly six months to go to poll, the People’s Party and its allies have a card to canvass at hand in the form of castigating the judiciary for creating obstacles on the path of elected representatives. It is, nonetheless, an altogether different issue whether it will be able to sell it across or not. Irrespective of what executive steps are taken by the beleaguered government as a rejoinder, and how they impact the working of the organs of the state, one thing is clear: the government has wasted its precious four years in an undesired tug of war. Going with the book by keeping aside personal likes and dislikes would have inevitably strengthened the democratic setup.