March 23, 2006	Thursday	Safar 22, 1427

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LAHORE, March 22: Federal Law, Justice and Human Rights Minister Wasi Zafar said here on Wednesday that the government was about to establish a federal high court which would adjudicate commercial and trade disputes besides taking care of litigation in the federal territory.

Talking to reporters, Mr Zafar said that all the banking courts and judicial bodies dealing with taxation, insurance and corporate sectors would subsequently merge in the proposed federal high court so that it was able to resolve all disputes in regard to financial, fiscal and commercial matters.

He said the proposed high court was being established to ensure that all the commercial and trade dispute were decided within the shortest period of time. Much of the high courts’ work concerning such technical and professional issues would also be entrusted to the proposed court which would be presided over by economists and those who had expertise in financial and fiscal matters. The minister said that a draft law had already been prepared and sent to the judiciary for consultation. Once the consultation came to an end, a bill would be prepared for the approval of the federal cabinet and then it would be moved in the National Assembly for legislation.

Asked if the government would not require an amendment to the constitution to set up another high court, Mr Wasi Zafar said a constitutional amendment was not required. Elaborating, he said that the federal high court was being set up like another bench of the Lahore High Court for which the maximum legal requirement was an act of parliament.

For all practical purposes, the proposed federal high court is the new nomenclature of the federal court for commercial disputes. The federal government had introduced the new court last year in a manner that experts would head the court for an expeditious disposal of commercial and trade disputes arising out with the expansion of the corporate bodies and a free trade regime. The proposal met with severe criticism by the lawyers community which reacted to the proposal with the plea that it would take away much of the powers of the judiciary and further weaken the judicial structure of the country. The government withheld the proposal in the wake of the lawyers reaction but had not shelved the idea.

WORKSHOP: Speaking at a workshop, Mr Wasi Zafar said that the government planned to enter into an association with the private sector in dealing with the problem of juvenile prisoners which of late had assumed a serious proportion.

The minister told the workshop, sponsored by the Punjab Directorate for the Human Rights for the development of a strategy for institutional reforms and the rehabilitation of juvenile prisoners in public-private partnership, that the federal government had already decided to seek the support of community-based organizations and NGOs in mitigating the incidents of human rights violation so that social evils were eradicated at the grassroots level.

Mr Zafar said that the government attached a high importance to the issue of juvenile prisoners which was an essential part of overall human rights issue. He said legislation was in progress to develop a juvenile prisoners system for which the government was seeking the help of the private sector to provide cells for juvenile prisoners in all the prisons of the country. He said segregation of young inmate from criminal was bound to make a healthy impact on the efforts projected to reform the younger people instead of punishing them and making them hardened criminals.

The minister said that crime among the youth was on the rise because the people lacked basic necessities of life. Society, he said, felt deprived of facilities like health, education and environment conducive to good living. Society as a whole had become indifferent and the family structure was falling apart. As a result, the youth in particular was annoyed and was reacting in a way as to even commit crime. He said society owed much to the new generation and it was time that the government and all other sections of society should rise to the occasion.

Regional director of the Punjab Human Rights Directorate Kishwar Shaheen Awan read out a report on the progress of the directorate particularly in probing complaints of rights violation across the province. Senior joint secretary of the federal ministry Saira Karim also spoke.