Our crumbling legal system

With an independent system of justice and free media, the state fails to guarantee the basic rights of its citizens

A recent incident, of a woman telling the country’s apex court that she is powerless in bringing the murderers of her son to justice is enough to expose the ‘effectiveness’ of our legal system.

With this ‘independent’ system of justice and ‘free’ media, the state fails miserably to guarantee the basic rights of its citizens. Last month, an anti-terrorism court had acquitted Mustafa Kanju, son of former state minister Siddique Kanju, and his guards, of charges of killing 16-year-old Zain Rauf and injuring another passerby after the complainant and the prosecution witnesses turned hostile.

Our legal system is in a dire need of reform so that justice can be provided to people in a timely manner. Poor prosecution and lack of safety for witnesses add to the weaknesses of our justice system. Criminals are often acquitted in Pakistan due to lack of evidence or poor prosecution, which only gives offenders the confidence to repeat the episode of terror for which they had been initially held.

Proceedings of the money laundering case against model Ayyan Ali is an example of how ‘effective’ our prosecution is when it comes to dealing with high-profile cases. When the PML-N came to power in 2013, it was faced with, among other issues, a crumbling legal system. The leadership of the party ran its election campaign on the slogan that it would bring judicial reforms through parliament if it came to power with a simple majority. But soon after the party acquired a simple majority and was in a position where it could easily take up the issue, it showed indifference like many before it.

Unfortunately, our prime minister wants to cure cancer with an aspirin as wherever he goes and whoever he meets, he has only one thing to offer. And that one thing is none other than a motorway. He is so obsessed with the idea of building roads that he even offered to build roads for the ‘betterment’ of flood-affected people of the Northern Areas. Maybe he is in the wrong job. He should have been the federal motorway minister. The prime minister needs to take up the important issue of legal reform instead of distracting himself with other matters.

With that said, immediate measures are required to deal with this situation as Pakistan is currently fighting the war against terror, which will, undoubtedly, define the future of the country. An effective legal system is needed to win this war. If we fail to come up with a rescue plan for this system soon, we might not get another chance to make things right.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 2^nd,  2015.