KARACHI: Sindh Law Minister Ziaul Hasan Lanjar on Wednesday said more than 5,000 cases were pending in around 50 antiterrorism courts functioning across the province.

Speaking to reporters at the Sindh Assembly building after a meeting to review the proposal for increasing the number of ATCs in Sindh, Mr Lanjar said the number of ATCs had been increased in the province and it would further be increased if needed.

He said the provincial government would recruit another 400 prosecutors to strengthen the prosecution side that had not been performing as per expectations.

During the meeting, the minister said, a committee was formed to improve the prosecution. Jointly headed by the home secretary and prosecutor general, the committee would give recommendations to strengthen the prosecution.

He also referred to last year’s plan of the government for the recruitment of 370 law graduates for the position of 170 inspectors (legal) and 200 inspectors (investigation).

“These moves are aimed at making sure that no culprit [goes] free due to lack of evidence or poor prosecution,” said the minister.

Earlier, home ministry officials said that to improve investigation in heinous crimes, the ministry had increased funds by around 38 per cent during last financial year. The funds for this purpose would be further increased this financial year, they said.

The officials said that the budget for investigation had increased from Rs264 million in 2015-16 to Rs364m in 2016-17.

“A total of Rs100m had been allocated additionally solely under the head of the investigation into criminal cases with the sole objective to improve its quality,” said a senior official in the home ministry.

The officials conceded that such increase was not significant considering the massive number of cases registered in the province. Yet, they claimed, it would contribute positively for the police investigators who earlier had little money to investigate such cases.

“The government has plans to increase it significantly in coming years. The situation will no longer be as pathetic as it had been for past many decades,” said an official in the ministry.

The ministry said the overall budget of police department had been increased significantly during the past three financial years. It said it was a little more than Rs51 billion in 2013-14, which increased to Rs56.599bn in 2014-15, and Rs62.692bn in 2015-16.

It said Rs77.925bn had been allocated to the police department in the last financial year.

The officials said the government had launched its plan to revamp the criminal justice system for which the rates of the investigation cost in heinous crimes had been revised.

Minister Lanjar said the Sindh Assembly’s session beginning on Monday would primarily see the anti-NAB law re-tabled in the house. The law the assembly passed weeks ago had been returned by the governor with objections.

“We will take the opposition parties into confidence before re-introducing the law,” he said.

Published in Dawn, July 20th, 2017