Daily Times

Sir: The other day, some robbers robbed my friend. When I asked him whether he has registered an FIR or not, he said no and explained that an FIR would allow the police to harass him and his family. Also in Pakistan, criminal cases take ages to come to a conclusion and usually it is the wrong conclusion.

This is the same thing that happened with the Mukhtaran Mai case. After her rape in 2001, the chief justice of Pakistan took suo motu action against the culprits and directed the police to register a case. After more than 10 years, the court announced its verdict, which was that the culprits be released as the FIR lodged in the police station had missing information. Does this mean that the court took 10 years just to discuss and analyse the FIR information alone?

The honourable chief justice of Pakistan had taken the right decision to try to reduce the time required by a judge to give a decision on a case from the general 10 years to six months only. Unfortunately, this excellent order was never implemented and even now the latest cases are taking more then six months to complete.

Unless the people of Pakistan get cheap and easy justice, we cannot become a successful nation. Therefore, it is imperative that the decision to end all cases within six months be implemented in letter and spirit.

SHAHRYAR KHAN BASEER

Peshawar