The justice system of the country is slow, flawed and continuously decaying. It is due to multiple problems with the existing legal regime that two million cases are pending in different courts (Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan Jan 21, 2018). This dysfunctional legal system because of various reasons, i.e., outdated laws, societal attitude, evil confederation among the powerful elite and legal education is not equipped with modern ways. In Pakistan, it takes years for a civil and criminal case to reach its logical end. Indeed, many of the country’s problems can be traced to the lack of new mechanisms of justice that are responsive to the people’s requirements. Progressive and developed countries have resolved these issues through introducing a modern justice system in the form of ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) mechanisms and use of advanced technology in the legal processes.n
Why is it so difficult to apply such mechanisms of modern justice in Pakistan to fix the problems with the legal system? It is because of outdated laws and the colonial-era court procedures, which are not at all in coherence with the prevailing conditions of the country. For instance “The code of criminal procedure” promulgated in 1898 and “The code of civil procedure” in 1908. Both of these are more than 100 years old and tailored while considering the requirements of that specific period. As of now the case backlog has reached two million, which shows that these laws and procedures are not meeting the current needs. Until these outdated laws are implemented there is no room for a modern justice system.
Another challenge in this regard is the general behavior of the society. There is a segment in the society, who want to see the people suffer through unnecessary litigation and excessive delays in court proceedings for years on petty issues. Whereas, the old legal system acts as a tool to fulfill this approach; therefore, this attitude acts as a hurdle in the implementation of modern ways of dispute resolution.
Pakistan is a country with 96.4 percent of the population who follow Islam as their religion. The hallmark of Islam is ‘justice’ for everyone. The Quran says “O you who believe! Stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses to Allah, even if it be against yourselves, your parents, and your relatives, or whether it is against the rich or the poor…”(Quran 4:135)
Then there is another problem to implement a new justice system, that is the evil confederation among the powerful elite (senior bureaucrats includes judicial officers, politicians and people higher income group) to maneuver the court proceeding in a way which suits them. These people do not want the legal system to change because of their vested interest in the status quo – the current justice system favors this influential segment of the society in multiple ways.
Furthermore, legal education is not equipped with the modern ways of the justice system that can be evaluated from the absence of subject of ADR specifically Arbitration from the Law course. Therefore, new legal minds joining the legal profession are not familiar with modern ways of dispute resolution. Thus, it further contributes to the problem.
At this alarming situation legal reforms are needed to overhaul the country’s justice system which should not be through patchwork but a paradigm shift. The system must be forward-looking and supportive of the modern day needs which help in the elimination of unnecessary litigation. For this purpose, the government has to bring in legislation to simplify cumbersome colonial-era court procedures and invest in an awareness campaign to change societal behavior. Legal education should also include the subject of ADR mechanisms.
Otherwise, the existing legal system will further add the injury and keep the justice and economic system bleeding.
The writer is from Nagoya University, Japan
Published in Daily Times, February 21st 2019.