ISLAMABAD: Former bureaucrats and experts have expressed concern over “deteriorating governance” in the country, for which they blame politicians, bureaucracy and the military’s top brass.

At the launch of a book titled ‘Governance Deficit - A case study of Pakistan’ by retired bureaucrat Saeed Ahmed Qureshi on Thursday, the judiciary was also blamed, as was the lack of a transparent judicial system, for the promotion of corruption across the country.

The book is based on Mr Qureshi’s 36 years of service, during which he served as chief secretary Sindh, chairman planning board Punjab and federal secretary in various ministries.

Speaking at the launch, Mr Qureshi said that the most serious of the country’s governance problems were due to the judicial system, and spoke at length about a chapter in the book titled ‘Missing Justice’, which calls for a clean, transparent and effective judicial system.

“The cost and time taken in a case should be reasonable. In most cases, the motive behind litigation is to harass the opponent rather than win the case,” he said.

It is due to a lack of trust in the judicial system that people at one time started taking their cases to Taliban courts in parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, he said.

Those who have benefited from the current judicial system are those involved in organised crime and violence, which includes terrorism and sectarianism, he added.

“The general notion is that our laws are weak. But for example, looking at the Anti Terrorism Act 1997 we see that it is not only very stringent but also caters to many human rights requirements as well. However, the act has never been implemented well enough,” Mr Qureshi added.

He then gave the examples of Lashkar-i-Jhangvi founders Malik Ishaq - who is accused of 70 murders, and Riaz Basra, who had 300 terrorism cases against him.

“Both were given bail by the courts. Due to the weak implementation of the laws, the police are forced to take matters into their own and resort to extrajudicial killings,” he said.

The US State Department has deemed the Pakistani judicial system not capable of dealing with terrorism, he added.

“Inordinate delays were a serious issue in the judicial system and the same has been witnessed in much of South Asia.”

Also speaking on the occasion was economist Saqib Sheerani who said that the decay in the governance system had begun showing in the late 1980s and early 90s and was now leading to the collapse of institutions. “Politicians, bureaucrats the media, all have contributed to this decay,” he said.

After several former bureaucrats had made their speeches, renowned poet Kishwar Naheed said all the wrong decisions made for the country were taken when those who had made the speeches were serving and that they had also served in various undemocratic governments.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2016