World Day for International Justice is being observed today
Pakistan
Around 2.2 million cases are pending across the courts in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) - World Day for International Justice is being observed today across the world including Pakistan.
The International Criminal Court mentions: “17 July is the Day of International Criminal Justice. It marks the anniversary of the adoption of the Rome Statute on 17 July 1998, the founding treaty of the ICC, which seeks to protect people from genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression.
17 July unites all those who wish to support justice, promote victims' rights, and help prevent crimes that threaten the peace, security and well-being of the world.”
According to details, Pakistan's justice system is quite exhaustive as a result, cases are pending for years. In the subordinate courts, there is a plethora of cases however there is a dearth of judges. Even higher courts have millions of cases pending.
As per details, around 2.2 million cases are pending across the courts in Pakistan, including 58 thousand cases in the Supreme Court, 15 thousands cases in the Islamabad High Court and 150 thousands cases are pending in the subordinate courts.
Senior lawyer Advocate Nadir Ali Siddique paints a grim picture of the judicial system, saying, local courts in Islamabad have around 100 judges and every judge hears around 1500 cases every month, but cases are just disposed of and do not provide justice.
Advocate Adil Aziz Qazi advocates for judicial system reforms, stating, justice is being delayed, generations have to strive for justice for years and hand over the files of cases to the next generation.
Pakistan ranked lower in provision of justice, Pakistan ranked 130 among the 142 states around the world in provision of justice, according to the World Justice Project report 2023 .
Legal experts imply that political cases increase the pending cases, therefore the judiciary must abstain from political cases.
Pakistan judiciary is also influenced by undemocratic elements, recently, IHC six judges wrote a letter to the Supreme Judicial Council about threatening letters for interference in judicial matters.
Public, specifically the common man, has no access to a fair and transparent judicial system, lawyers charge hefty fees but don’t give assurance of case proceedings.
