Whatever little justice and honesty are remaining in society go unacknowledged by those in power
ISLAMABAD: One sees disharmony and chaos in Pakistani society today. All and sundry desire social peace, harmony and development but all these are not possible without justice in society — be it court justice, administrative justice, economic justice, financial justice or environmental justice, etc.
One of my professors of law often used to say that without justice, it is neither possible to attain personal perfection nor is it possible to develop social and public-sector organisations. It is an open secret that more or less all our social and public-sector organisations in Pakistan today, with the exception of a few, have become inefficient and unproductive. The reason behind the inefficiency is deep-rooted and deep-seated injustice in the organisations. There is no justice in pay, promotion, perks, pensions, etc. So much so, there is no justice or honesty while writing the Annual Confidential Reports and performance evaluation reports of upright, honest and efficient officers. Whatever little justice and honesty are remaining in society go unacknowledged by those in power — which is a disincentive for all kinds of positive behaviour.
There is a need to sensitise our society so that in all intellectual, ethical and social spheres, freedom is balanced and shaped by justice. Only when this happens will justice, harmony and peace prevail in this society. As Aristotle aptly said, “Life has one difficult and thousands of easy paths. The difficult path is that of justice and the thousands of easy paths all deviate from the path of justice to one degree or another.”
Hashim Abro
Published in The Express Tribune, May 2nd, 2015.
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