Case number 999 — status: pending!

It is infuriating that while democracy promises empowerment, justice still remains a luxury for the masses.

It’s been an excruciating 10 years since Mr Hasan filed his case against a private bank in a bid to be declared the rightful owner of a property that he had bought. His eyes were beaming with the hope that today might just be the day he can put his feet down and relax — after all, Mr Hasan had paid his lawyer more than what the property was worth. It’s 11.30am and he only gets a mere two hours of the judge’s precious time. The two lawyers present their case, one party testifies against the other and vice versa. After an avid debate, the case finally reaches a point where clarity is almost evident and just when the lawyer is about to make another point, the judge pounds his gavel — case is adjourned until the next hearing and Mr Hasan shall continue to face disappointment indefinitely.

Until the beginning of this year, there were over three million cases pending before the country’s courts with approximately 37,000 in the Sindh High Court alone, according to a local newspaper. Despite the recent enforcement of the National Judicial Policy with regards to pending cases, innumerable people have been fighting cases for more than half of their lives and many have even succumbed to death in the hope that a judgment will be given soon. The reasons for the delays are diverse and many — lack of interested lawyers, a flawed legal system, non-compliance of law and an extreme shortage of judges (the last one stands as the most significant).

Undoubtedly, a nation cannot thrive without the rule of law and definitely not without credible law-enforcers. While the successful imposition of mobile courts in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa does bring a ray of hope for those in smaller towns and cities, their legal madness can only be tackled with the swift appointment of judges. The Supreme Court has demonstrated a certain level of activism but the lower courts in the country are still crammed with a significant backlog of cases.

It is infuriating that while democracy promises economic growth and youth empowerment, justice still remains a luxury for the masses. It is high time that those elected realise that the root cause of this nation’s frustration is ‘unfairness’ in all aspects. A fair system can only develop when the case of People versus Our Legal System is resolved in a manner that results in a favourable outcome for all concerned.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 27^th, 2013.