Sukkur paralegals offer services for the poor

Legal practitioners to display name plates mentioning profession outside their homes

SUKKUR: Paralegals of Sukkur will be offering their services to the poor and help those unable to understand legal systems.

The legal help programme has been initiated by Marvi Rural Development Organisation (MRDO). The organisation has published a directory of paralegals. Each professional will be given 20 such directories to distribute within their respective union councils.

"We are also providing name plates to the paralegals to display outside their homes so they can create awareness about their service," said MRDO project manager Zulfiqar Narejo. "These directories can be distributed among prayer leaders, councillors and other elders of the community, so that they can contact respected paralegals of their community in case anybody needs help."



Narejo was addressing the group of paralegals at Child Protection Unit on Saturday after they completed a three-day workshop organised by MRDO, Insaf Network Pakistan (INP), Enhanced Democratic Accountability and Citizen Engagement (Edace) and Development Alternatives Incorporated (DAI).

"Paralegals who volunteered their services for their respective communities are supposed to guide the people in the right direction as they are neither lawyers and nor judges," he said.

Speaking at the event, INP regional coordinator Ghazala Anjum urged the paralegals to utilise their training properly into guiding the people of their communities. "It is quite common that, in case of any crime, police are reluctant to lodge FIRs," she gave an example. "[In such cases] the paralegals should direct the people to approach the court for the purpose."

Most people do not know where to get their problems solved and it is the duty of the paralegals to guide them properly, she added. She advised the paralegals to refrain from directly involving themselves in any case as they are not supposed to do so. Rather, they are supposed to provide proper guidelines to the needy people.

Social work is a thankless job and therefore the paralegals should not hope for any rewards, she pointed out. In most rape cases evidence is lost well before taking the victim to the police station or to the hospital for medical check-up, she said, urging the paralegals to make sure that no evidence is lost before the victim reaches the police station or a hospital.

The paralegals too felt they need to share the burden of those unfamiliar with the legal system. "I am striving hard for the rights of the disabled persons and now I will also provide proper guidance to the poor and needy," said paralegal Irfan Ali Bhatti, who belongs to Loung Bhatti village near Rohri. Bhatti is also the general secretary of Disabled Friends Association for the last three years.



He told The Express Tribune that the MRDO training was quite fruitful and he is going to apply it in solving the problems of his community.

"As a social worker, I always try my best to resolve the problems of my community, especially women, as they are the most vulnerable segment of our society," said Saima, who belongs to Sukkur's Site union council and has worked with Aurat Foundation for over four years.

"Many women silently brave domestic violence and never utter a word to the outsiders, which is very painful," she said, adding that it is our duty to keep an eye on such incidents and try to stop it, if possible. "Earlier I knew little about legal and constitutional rights of women but after getting training at MRDO, I know more about the subject," she added.

Edace regional coordinator Mehvish Qureshi was also present on the occasion.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 3^rd, 2016.