It is sad time indeed as the Government of Pakistan has promulgated the Protection of Pakistan Act (PPA) for two years. The promulgation of this act means that Pakistan’s judicial system has totally failed, because if the judiciary was strong enough to pass orders that would have helped create laws or provided guidance to the people of Pakistan, we would not have needed to implement such harsh acts.
Since the act allows ‘shoot to kill’ and other harsh measures, the very next day near Peshawar, a police party shot dead a person accused of killing a policeman’s son.
The reality is that Pakistan has very weak internal laws. Our parliamentarians are more involved in funds and infrastructure projects than in creating laws. And although the primary job of the parliamentarians is to work on laws but without any local bodies, the parliamentarians are forced to spend time on infrastructure projects for their regions.
The second level of law should come from the judiciary where the verdicts should help create laws and guidance for the people of Pakistan. Unfortunately in Pakistan the judiciary has no idea and skill to pass such verdicts. The judiciary in Pakistan shockingly does not even use latest technology for their verdicts and still only relies on documents and witness statements, even while the judges themselves use Facebook, emails, internet and new lab test methods for their own personal use.
Therefore, I believe that though we need to do something to ensure that all criminals are arrested, prosecuted and sentenced, doing it through a ‘shoot to kill’ law is wrong and it basically means that the country’s parliamentarians and judiciary are too lazy to do their jobs.
ENGR SHAHRYAR KHAN BASEER
Peshawar
