Wrapping the system with constitutional cover may be considered as a move to boost the traumatic episodes of history
MIRPUR MATHELO: Recently, a bill was passed legalising and providing constitutional cover to the old and traditional jirga and panchayat systems in order to relieve the burden of heavy caseloads from courts. Notwithstanding the lack of quorum, the bill was passed unanimously and aims to empower jirgas and panchayats to resolve petty issues at the earliest.
People from tribal and rural areas are comfortable with panchayat and jirga systems because of their quick delivery.
In the book, Pakistan: A Hard Country by Anatol Lieven, the author visited every nook and corner of the country to analyse the pith and marrow of the issues of Pakistan. He interviewed a number of people in the tribal areas of Swat, Malakand and observed that people were relaxed with the centuries-old tribal system and considered the existing judicial system as both money and time-consuming.
The situation in rural Sindh and Balochistan is no more difficult because of kinship groups each having its own “Khan”. Since the issues of kinship are all resolved by the “Khans” by fixing blood money and forced marriages of young girls, a state within a state is primordial in the rural areas till today.
In a society where women’s rights have always been violated under patriarchal hegemony, where Mukhtaran Mai’s case and the killings of thousands of girls in the name of honour are crushed under the patriarchal society, where a girl is flogged publicly just because of going with a man other than her father, brother or husband, where there are killings upon expressing one’s wish to marry based on one’s own will, and where girls are married off to older men to settle disputes, wrapping the system with constitutional cover may be considered as a move to boost the much-reduced traumatic episodes of history.
If the government sincerely wants to reduce the workload of the courts, another option is available in terms of mobilising the federal and provincial ombudsmen. If the government can find neutral arbitrators, it can surely also find the staff of the ombudsmen at the union council level, too.
Above all, a few days back, the Chief Justice of Pakistan said that the need of the hour was to uphold the vibrant and effective judicial system, because only an effective judicial system can guarantee the human rights.
Iftikhar Kolachi
Published in The Express Tribune, February 11th, 2017.
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