ADB dissatisfied with progress on Access to Justice
By Intikhab Hanif
LAHORE, June 10: The Asian Development Bank would be having second thoughts on releasing the second tranche of its loan if the Access to Justice Programme (AJP) was not implemented in its true perspective.
"We are monitoring implementation of the programme and will submit first of our reports by the end of September." This was stated by ADB Assistant General Counsel Hamid Sharif at an ADB-sponsored seminar on the programme in a local hotel on Thursday.
The bank has already released $150 million to the government of Pakistan out of a total of $350 million committed by it for the three-year programme. On its part, the federal government has released Rs1.5 billion to the provinces for implementation of the programme. It intends to release another Rs2 billion in the next financial year.
The bank official said that release of the second tranche would be subject to implementation of the AJP in the right direction. "We will have second thoughts if the programme is not implemented," he said when his attention was drawn by this reporter towards the delay in establishment of an independent prosecution service and consumer protection courts.
The ADB official also expressed his dissatisfaction over the recent decision at the federal level to amend the Police Order 2002 to allow chief ministers and Nazims to control police and give representation to politicians on safety commissions.
He said the law was aimed at eliminating political interference in police affairs. The Police Order was enacted to close all doors on political interference of any kind but the announced changes in it would provide a legal justification to the contrary, he remarked.
Earlier, participants in the ADB-sponsored seminar, including lawyers, representatives of NGOs and police, asked questions about the programme. A majority of them expressed serious concerns over the implementation of the AJP without retaining its basic purpose of providing relief to the people.
The government, represented by Advisor Rana Ejaz Ahmad Khan, Programme Director and Justice and Human Rights Ministry Joint Secretary Tahir Shahbaz and Lahore High Court Additional Registrar Latif Qureshi, defended the programme and said it was being implemented in the right direction.
It was aimed at providing justice to the people through institutional and legal reforms and infrastructural development, they said. Hamid Sharif said the first phase of the programme had set the scene for strengthening the legal profession and education, improving the capacity of key institutions to uphold the rule of law, legal empowerment of citizens and increased representation of women in the legal profession together with a greater access to justice.
He recalled that up to 1996-97 the donor agencies were not funding institutional reforms, nor was the government of Pakistan interested in this sector. But the institutional reforms were accepted as a development issue afterwards. "Pakistan now is among one of the few countries which have crossed the threshold for such reforms," he said.
Mr Sharif said the ADB was initially informed that there were no courtrooms and judges to provide quick justice to people. It was true that the country had the worst global ratio of judges to people and many judges were sitting in shabby courtrooms, yet the ADB asked for a study to underline other factors hampering the provision of justice.
He said this was so because the AJP vision was to strengthen judicial system and provide it with an enabling environment and preventing official and individual injustice.
Mr Sharif said the AJP was aimed at helping the country to create an environment of access to justice with the backing of a budget for capacity-building. Legal education was extremely important but at present it was not capable of producing good judges or lawyers, he said.
He said it would take some years to implement the programme. However, many objectives relating to it had already been achieved. The judiciary had completely been separated from the executive with the abolition of executive magistracy. The introduction of access to information law was also a step in the right direction.
Mr Sharif said the powers of sessions court to hear habeas corpus petitions, the new contempt of court law, establishment of environmental tribunals, fortification of ombudsman's office and the commitment of the government to legislation regarding establishment of courts to try acts of omission or commission by civil servants were some other steps taken in the right direction.
He said that commitment of the government to allocating more funds for the AJP-related reforms had also changed the mindset towards the change. The official quoted the example of the NWFP where, he said, implementation of the programme had sped up the process of clearing court cases.
Judges were submitting progress reports and holding conferences aimed at improving the legal system. The inspections of courts too had improved, he said. He said 150 projects related to the development of related infrastructure like courtrooms, houses for judges and judicial complexes were being executed at a cost of Rs2.6 billion.
The income from the $25 million Access to Justice Fund would be used to facilitate public interest litigation, make innovations in legal education and initiate legal research and policy reforms.
Mr Sharif said the AJP was aimed at protecting police from political interference. But unfortunately, the needed insulation had not been provided to police. The public safety commissions had not been fully funded and the police complaint authorities not constituted. "These are worrying aspects of the issue," he said.
He said the stakeholders were debating on the new police law which was in public interest and not the ground for a war between DMG officers, politicians and police. "While adjusting the law, its basic and extremely important principle of keeping police free of political interference should be kept in mind. Interests of the public at large and not that of sectors should be looked after, Mr Sharif said.
He said the interaction between the AJP implementing agencies and the civil society too was not healthy. "Legal rights are protected only in a strong civil society. No foreigner can bring about the change. It would have to be ensured by local people," he said.
LHC Additional Registrar Latif Qureshi mentioned steps which had so far been taken to improve the judicial system. He said assistance of lawyers should be sought for fully implementing the reforms.
Replying to questions, Mr Sharif said the institutional reforms could be fully implemented only through pressure from an enlightened civil society. The programme was initially aimed at strengthening the subordinate judiciary to provide justice to people.
"Justice starts from petty bureaucrats. The government departments have not appointed the principal officers required for resolution of people's problems," he said.
