Pakistan’s Supreme Court (SC) Chief Justice (CJ), while speaking at a seminar organised by the National Centre for Dispute Resolution (NCDR), upheld the supremacy of Pakistan’s ideal of justice. CJ Jamali said that the judiciary was performing its functions independently and criticism of the judicial system was not justified. Moreover, while reflecting on the multiple justice systems operating in the country encroaching on the space of the actual legal justice system, Justice Jamali underscored the need for an alternative dispute resolution system in rural areas to dispense speedy and inexpensive justice to people. The CJ expressed dissatisfaction about the alternate justice system prevalent in Pakistan’s rural areas for resolving disputes, i.e. the informal jirga system, and described its existence as unfortunate and counterproductive to the well-reasoned stability found in mainstream law. Thus he stressed the need for streamlining the process of justice so that the entire country comes under a uniform judicial set up. He emphasised importance of creation of an alternate dispute resolution system, which has its basis in Pakistan’s constitutional law rather than the harmful, arbitrary customary law commonly used in jirgas. In this vein, he praised the efforts of the NCDR as it aims to give people an option to resolve their issues through negotiations. The CJ recognised, however, the flaws in the delivery of justice, as court’s orders were not being followed in letter or spirit and there were delays in justice provision. Thus he identified the prevalence of unresolved disputes as leading to more crime, underlying the need for a speedy and alternative justice resolution system in the rural context.
The CJ’s call is highly welcome, as the existence of informal justice systems, usually focused on community level, have been a source of great injustice in the country. Usually dominated by supposedly wise old men of a particular community, these jirgas are a source of perpetuation of patriarchy, and, disproportionately, cause harm to women due to dominance of consideration of ‘honour’ in these jirgas. These jirgas are regressive in their values and are mostly used for settlement of personal scores. There is little or no chance of well-reasoned, rational justice to emanate from these councils. These are archaic institutions that have been tolerated by the state in exchange of compliance of communities in other matters, but this arrangement has caused the state more harm than good. As CJ Jamali lamented, the people of Pakistan do not have much respect for the rule of law, and that is partially because there is no one uniform set of laws that governs the lives of all Pakistani citizens equally. The prevalence of such informal justice system thus also undermines the writ of the Pakistani state. http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/editorial/07-Mar-2016/chief-justice-s-call
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