IT is a brazen truth that the writ of the state has become weakened due to the inaptness of state institutions mainly responsible for strengthening mafias and creating discrimination against upper and lower-class citizens. The situation of law and order in the country is deteriorating gradually which may lead the country towards disaster.
If we look at our prosecution including the investigation process, it portrays a very disappointing picture: analysis of crime data of Punjab province for the year 2023 depicts that the conviction rate was 7.6% and the percentage of untraced cases was 28.9%, likewise the conviction rate of Lahore remained 1%, the percentage of untraced cases was 34.8%.
This state of affairs is very disheartening which speaks a lot about the professionalism and working of investigating agencies vis-à-vis the weak oversight of concerned provincial authorities. The litmus test of professionalism is to work out blind cases instead to put them on back burner. The percentage of untraced cases should not cross single digit, which could be achieved with dedication, hard work coupled with effective monitoring.
Owing to this fragile writ of state, citizens are losing trust in the prosecution regime as well as the judicial system. People at large are deprived of justice due to this unprofessionally handled corrupt investigation and prosecution system. The pressing need is to strive for the best strategy through logical thinking otherwise it would prove fatal for State governance. In order to establish writ of State through the Rule of Law, developed countries have created hiring of services of private professionals through their statuary framework. The services and institutionalization of Private Detectives in the UK is one the most successful stories of facilitating the Rule of Law, besides sharing the burden of State investigation and prosecution.
As a practitioner, I believe if the government legislates the creation of Private Detective with their linkages and acceptability in all organs of the criminal justice system, it will improve the quality of investigation; which is required for good prosecution and consequently improve the conviction rate, strengthen deterrence and establish writ of the State: the immediate beneficiary would be people of Pakistan, who are a victim of this redundant and corrupt system.
—The writer is former DIG.
