When I was little, I had studied in my school that the Pakistan’s legal system was the third pillar of our governance. The legal system was established to provide justice to the common man and to stop the government or army from imposing illegal acts on the public.
While growing up I witnessed the inhumane way the Pakistan court systems treated common man’s problems. Legal proceedings in the court would only end when one of the disputing parties died. We have all witnessed the suo motu actions of the ex-CJ in the past few years.
Although the ex-CJ utilised his authority to take suo motu actions against various people, including the government, it is interesting to note that it was only a very small percentage of the cases, all the rest are either still pending or thrown out of court after a few years. Interestingly, quick justice was provided only in the suo motu action of the CJ against the sitting PM of Pakistan, when the CJ’s son, Arsalan, was implicated in a case.
The perfect example of the failure of the suo motu actions of the CJ can be explained by the case of Mukhtaran Mai. She was gang-raped by four villagers in Punjab. The FIR was registered after the CJ took suo motu action, and although the legal proceeding went on in the court for three years, the case was eventually thrown out of the court on the pretext that the initial FIR was registered incorrectly. Ironically, the FIR was registered on the suo motu notice of the CJ.
I think it is a very good initiative of the PTI government, the KP CM and now of the KP Police, to have started the Conflict Resolution Centres, where a common person can resolve his dispute, without going to the courts or meeting a lawyer or judge.
SHAHRYAR KHAN BASEER
Peshawar
