ISLAMABAD: Not only the blasphemy law in the country has been misused many times but also during hearing of such cases trial court judges often seem either incompetent or, because of the sensitivity of the matter, do not give decisions on merit.

Legislation should be done to provide speedy and affordable justice to women.

These views were expressed by speakers at a seminar, ‘Role of the judiciary in promoting women’s access to justice in Pakistan’ organised by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI).

Retired Justice Nasira Iqbal said though before elections political parties always talked about issues of women and made promises to fix them they hardly fulfilled their commitments.

Say before elections political parties always talk about issues of women but never bother to fulfil their promises to fix them

“Jirga was banned by the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 2006 but this system still exists due to which a large number of women suffer.” However, on the positive side, she added, at least a minimum requirement of 10 per cent women’s turnout in polling has been set and is being implemented.

“Time has come to increase the number of women judges in courts and I suggest that it should be at least 25pc,” she said.

About the allegation that the ratio of divorces has increased because of family courts, Ms Iqbal said family courts were a blessing for women. She said there was a space for divorce in Islam.

The retired justice said there was no true representation of women in parliament. She suggested that women should be elected to assemblies directly.

Human rights activist Tahira Abdullah said severity of punishment was not as important as certainty of punishment.

“The role of the judiciary is interlinked with the police, prosecution and hospitals as they (hospitals) issue tampered medicolegal reports. Here evidence is tampered with. I want to ask which parliament passed the bill of Federal Shariat Court (FSC) and why no one bothered to reverse Ziaul Haq’s FSC ordinance.”

Ms Abdullah said issues related to human rights should be included in curriculum and the curriculum should be revised.

National Commission on the Status of Women Chairperson (NCSW) Khawar Mumtaz said she was trying to ensure implementation of women-related laws.

“Though things are improving, there is a need to ensure accountability in every field,” she said.

Barrister Benazir Jatoi appreciated that the Supreme Court turned down decisions of a subordinate court and a panchayat in the Asia Bibi case. She claimed that social media played a role in pushing the judiciary to take such decisions and it showed weakness of the judiciary.

“There is also an issue of training of judges. However, people use jirga and panchayat because they are speedy and affordable. Moreover, it is easy to approach a jirga.”

She said the NCSW should have suo motu powers so that it could help decrease problems of women.

Transgender rights activist Nayyab Ali Khan said the transgender community remained excluded from society. She urged the government to provide the community its constitutional rights and safety in the country.

Research fellow at SDPI Dr Shafqat Munir, who moderated the discussion, said there were multiple factors at different levels of society that made women’s access to justice more difficult.

There are structural, systemic, social and economic barriers that hamper women’s access to justice. These barriers include lack of access, lack of economic resources, lack of social and family support, stigmatisation, lack of women representation in judiciary, lack of law enforcement and the general inefficiency of the country’s judicial system.

Published in Dawn, February 26th, 2019