HYDERABAD, June 12: The secretary general, Amnesty International (AI), Pakistan, Iqbal Detho, in a policy statement on Jirga system faxed to Dawn on Tuesday, said that any community-based system for justice or tribal Jirga should respect due process, establish the truth, facilitate reparations to victims and make recommendations designed to prevent a repetition of crimes and in no way should substitute for bringing perpetrators of serious crimes and other human rights violations to justice.

He said the study of traditional and informal systems of justice signified dangers like human rights violations, falling short of fair trial, entailing discrimination and cruel inhuman and degrading punishment and treatment.

Such systems, he said, generally perpetuate community hierarchy and power relationships and tend to disadvantage women in particular and powerless groups in general.

He said, in the course of conflict, traditional processes had often been distorted and corrupted.

He urged the government to strengthen the judiciary by providing infrastructure, expertise and necessary resources so that the backlog of cases could be lessened and people could be provided with justice in reasonable timeframe.

LUMHS: The controller of examinations, Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, Jamshoro, has announced results of the first professional MBBS (part-I) annual examination of 2002 of the LUMHS, Chandka Medical College, Larkana and Peoples Medical College for Girls, Nawabshah held in March.