The two branches have been at odds since President Asif Ali Zardari was elected in 2008, and some analysts believe the court’s push to revive cases that had been covered by an amnesty protecting scores of politicians has been politically motivated.

Tension between the two sides has been a concern for Washington, which wants the government to stay focused on battling Taleban and Al-Qaeda militants who attack US and NATO forces across the border in Afghanistan.

“Take all the petitions and all the cases from A to Z and revive them by tomorrow (Tuesday),” Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry ordered the government during a court hearing Monday. “The law has to take its course.”

His comments came more than three months after the court ruled the amnesty issued by Zardari’s successor, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, was unconstitutional. It covered thousands of cases against politicians, bureaucrats and party workers dating back to the 1990s.

Some of the cases have been reopened, but the court’s actions Monday seem to indicate it believes the government is dragging its feet on others.

One case requires the government to ask Swiss authorities to reopen a money laundering suit against Zardari. But the government has argued that Zardari enjoys immunity as president and has not acted.

One of the six judges in Monday’s hearing, Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramdey, alluded to Zardari, saying “even if somebody has become a king, he, too, is not exempted.” But the court did not specify what it would do if the government failed to act by Tuesday.

“Historically in Pakistan, many controversial judgments handed down by the court have not been implemented,” said Cyril Almeida, an opinion writer for Dawn, a leading English-language newspaper.

Musharraf introduced the amnesty as part of a US-backed deal to allow Zardari’s wife, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, to return from self-imposed exile in 2007. Bhutto was killed in December of that year, and Zardari took over the party afterward.