KARACHI: “Law needs to be clearly worded so that it is easy to understand. For this, the process of drafting the law needs to be improved,” Justice (retd) Shaiq Usmani said on Wednesday.
He was speaking at the concluding day of a three-day national workshop on ‘Legislative Drafting’ organised by the Pakistan Institute of Parliamentary Services (PIPS) in collaboration with Manzil Pakistan, a Karachi based research think tank, and Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD).
Justice (retd) Usmani is the lead trainer for the workshop.
Zafarullah Khan, the PIPS executive director, termed the event a ‘unique opportunity’ to deliberate on the legislation drafting process from lens of the judiciary who is required to adjudicate laws in the court.
Aasim Siddiqui, the vice chairman of Manzil Pakistan, said that the event was organised after consultation with the National Assembly of Pakistan. He appreciated the role of PIPS in capacity building of parliamentarians and associated staff at federal and provincial levels.
He mentioned recent task of Review of Legislative Framework in Pakistan with a pilot phase in process. He informed the gathering that an accord was signed between PIPS and Manzil Pakistan to review selected laws not only to address needs of evolving socio-economic and socio-legal dynamics of this country but also to culminate in enduring reforms to the justice system of the country.
David Thirlby, the senior programme manager-Asia at WFD, said that deliberations on legislative processes was a priority area for the WFD. “I am pleased that this initiative finally comes to ground,” he added.
He conducted a session on post-legislative scrutiny on the second day of the training. Manzil Pakistan has developed a ‘Manual for Legislative Drafting’. In a statement, it said that the aim of the workshop was to develop and adopt standard legislation drafting practices that were discussed in the manual.
Participants of training came from across the country, including members from legislation and drafting wing of federal and provincial assemblies.
Published in Daily Times, March 29th 2018.
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