AT long last, the Government has moved towards introduction of much-delayed and talked-about judicial reforms as the Federal Cabinet, which met under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday, decided to introduce comprehensive judicial reforms in the criminal justice system.
Information Minister, Fawad Ahmed Chaudhry, who briefed media-men about proceedings of the meeting, expressed the confidence that these reforms will change the entire system of criminal justice and address matters relating to delay in trials and registration of FIRs.
The Cabinet rejected the proposal for hike in salaries of the parliamentarians, discussed the wheat situation in the country and launch of 5G technology.
These and other decisions of the cabinet are in line with the commitment of Prime Minister Imran Khan to promote good governance and address fundamental problems of the masses.
The successive governments made attempts to introduce legal and judicial reforms aimed at ensuring access to justice but the goal remains a far off cry even after over seven decades of independence.
It is regrettable that we have not been able to bring about changes and improvements as per local requirements in the system inherited from the colonial period.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that a majority of the people have lost trust in the judicial system because of rampant corruption, procedural rigmarole, extraordinary delays, lack of due interest on the part of the judges and unbearable cost of litigation.
One hopes that the proposed reforms would take care of these and other issues that agitate the minds of the people.
Registration of an FIR has also become a Herculean task for an ordinary citizen as SHOs show reluctance when approached for registration of FIR fearing that this would reflect poorly on their performance vis-à-vis the crime rate.
Apart from streamlining the procedure for registration of FIR, there is also dire need to introduce reforms in the police force that has confined itself to protocol duties and service of VIPs than performing its original functions.
The IT Ministry surely deserves credit for moving fast on the issue of launch of 5G technology and hopefully it would succeed in meeting the target set for the purpose.
As for availability of wheat and its rising prices, the problem crops up again and again forcing the Prime Minister to take notice of the situation despite the fact that there are ministries and institutions concerned both at federal and provincial levels and an elaborate mechanism is in vogue to guard against shortages and profiteering.
The cabinet should go deep into the problem to find out as to why the efforts aimed at streamlining the system are not bearing fruit.
The permission given to FBR to hire data securing services is a step in the right direction but the issue is not confined just to FBR as scores of other institutions are also using pirated software prone to cyber attacks and they should also be provided resources to upgrade their systems.
