Pakistan’s judicial system recorded significant progress during the first six months of 2025, resolving more than 2.9 million cases and reducing the overall backlog of pending litigation.
According to official data released by the Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan and published in the Pakistan Freedom Report (Mashal Pakistan), 2,807,674 new cases were filed nationwide between January 1 and June 30, 2025, while 2,901,440 cases were disposed of during the same period.
The report stated that pending cases stood at 2,371,227 at the beginning of the year and declined by 100,643 to 2,270,584 by the end of June.
According to the data, the reduction was largely driven by improved disposal rates in the superior courts as well as district courts in Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Islamabad. However, pending cases increased in the Balochistan High Court and district courts.
The Supreme Court of Pakistan, the Federal Shariat Court and the country’s five high courts began the year with a combined backlog of 406,379 cases.
During the first half of 2025, these courts received 127,901 new cases and disposed of 147,702, reducing the total backlog to 361,677.
The Supreme Court reduced its pending caseload from 57,403 to 56,145 after disposing of 11,888 cases while receiving 9,685 new filings.
The Federal Shariat Court also reduced its pending cases from 78 to 65 by deciding 44 cases during the reporting period.
Meanwhile, the Lahore High Court reduced its backlog from 198,005 to 188,077, the Sindh High Court from 86,421 to 57,289, and the Peshawar High Court from 40,667 to 35,441.
