PRIME Minister Imran Khan said on Friday that the masses’ faith in the present justice system was shaken to a great extent and they had pinned hopes on the government for improvement in the system. Chairing a meeting to review progress on provision of speedy and inexpensive justice to people and the legal reforms so far carried out by the present government he directed for thrashing out the roadmap for the criminal justice system reforms, change in the thana culture, registration of cases, investigation, reform of prisons as early as possible so that their implementation could be ensured.
The Prime Minister represented true feelings of the people when he spoke of their lack of trust in the present judicial system which is nothing but sluggish and exploitative in nature. One has to wait for years rather decades and spend life savings to see outcome of a case if one decides to knock at the doors of the judiciary and even then there is no guarantee that the justice would be delivered because of loopholes and lacunae in the system. It is also a fact that majority of people prefer not to approach police for registration of a case or file cases in the courts despite being wronged because both police and judicial systems are corruption ridden. It was in this backdrop that people took sigh of relief over some of the non-traditional measures introduced by different governments like establishment of offices of ombudsmen and PM’s portal to take care of some grievances of the people against the system but these initiatives too are becoming lacklustre with the passage of time. PTI Government has taken some of the tangible measures to safeguard rights of some of the most disadvantaged segments of the society focusing on laws for the protection of women property rights, setting up of legal aid mechanism for the poor and vulnerable and a mechanism for issuance of succession certificates by National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA). However, a change would be visible only if the Prime Minister is able to realize his vision about reformation of the criminal justice system and police. It has also to be realized that mere legislation would not safeguard rights and ensure dispensation of justice until and unless working and performance of police is reformed and improved. Problems and woes of the people would mitigate to a great extent if the Government introduces a fair Panchayat system and activates/empowers local government institutions so that they could handle smaller disputes.
