PESHAWAR, Sept 11: Chief Justice of Peshawar High Court Justice Tariq Pervez Khan has urged the civil society organisations to realise their responsibility in bringing about an environment which is conducive to justice and fair play.

Addressing on Tuesday the inaugural session of a seminar on “Access to Justice Development Fund” — organised by the Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan — he said the court did not work in isolation. Therefore, people from different walks of life should support the judiciary in its endeavours to ensure supremacy of law.

Justice Tariq Pervez Khan said the media had played a significant role in creating awareness on issues concerning human rights violations, rule of law and supremacy of judiciary in the country.

He said the media, along with the legal community, had helped give rise to judicial activism. He expressed the hope that the coordinated and concerted efforts by lawyers and civil society representatives would help bring about improvements vis-a-vis dispensation of justice.

He suggested that of the Rs1.6 billion available under the Access to Justice Development Fund programme, a sizable amount should be set aside for upgradation of the judiciary in the province.

He also called for allocations for research in universities and suggested reallocation of money from the under-utilised category to some other category. He said the process of allocation be simplified.

He said the fund was meant to be used for securing the rights of the deprived, particularly for the protection of the vulnerable sections of the society.

He said the availability of funds had helped enhance the performance of the judiciary which had been marred by a backlog of cases over the past few years.

Dr Faqir Hussein, registrar of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, gave a briefing on the Constitution and implementation of the Access to Justice Development Fund programme.