ISLAMABAD: The Central Law Minister, Mian Mahmud Ali Kusuri, announced today [Aug 12] that his Government had fulfilled the pledge of separating the Judiciary from the Executive through the Law Reforms Ordinance issued by the President today. Addressing a Press conference, he said the country would hail this step, because it had been their long-standing demand repeated year after year. The Minister said that the salient features of law reforms were abolition of transportation for life and its substitution with life term of 25 years.

Simultaneously, the Prison Act had been amended to provide that a lifer was not released before 15 years. This, however, did not affect the President’s powers for clemency and pardon. The procedure of power of attorney had been streamlined and the provision for young lawyers to disclose the fee accepted had been abolished. The procedure for grant of bail had been simplified, commitment proceedings abolished and procedure of Civil Procedure Code, which led to delays had been eliminated. — News agencies

Published in Dawn, August 13th, 2022