ISLAMABAD: Even as the judiciary and the legal fraternity engage actively on court infrastructure – clean water, solar power, digital connectivity – the original and intended beneficiary of the justice system, the ordinary litigant, risks being left behind.
For many, a case does not move forward for years, shifted from hearing to hearing like a rolling stone, even though the existing cyber regime makes it possible for many such matters to be resolved within a month or two.
The administration of civil and criminal justice ultimately rests on those who lead the judiciary. Their unbiased decisions are what deliver genuine relief to litigants and that requires unwavering commitment from every stakeholder in the system, not infrastructure alone.
The Law and Justice Commission’s recommendations to work.
Central to closing this gap is the Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan (LJCP), whose recommendations on judicial reform have long existed but remain under-implemented at the institutional level. Decentralising and operationalising these recommendations by linking them to existing Ombudsperson offices, and by recommending that government establish dedicated Police Ombudsperson offices – it would help ensure the true letter and spirit of the police’s investigative role under the Code of Criminal Procedure and Police Rules.
This would ease the burden on courts directly, while making the police – an institution central to public order and safety – more accountable to the public it serves.
Building arbitration clause into contracts from day one.
Contractual disputes make up a significant share of pending litigation. An independent authority established at the district level, with every contract or agreement required to be registered online, could change this – provided registration carries one non-negotiable condition: no contract or agreement is registered unless it names an arbitrator. Built into agreements from the outset, this would give parties a clear path to resolution outside the courtroom, reducing the flow of contractual disputes into an already overburdened system.
To reach already in every citizen’s pocket.
Pakistan has approximately 204.75 million cellular subscribers out of a population of about 259.3 million. That reach gives the Chief Justice a powerful, low-cost tool to widen access to justice beyond the courtroom – one that does not require new infrastructure, only the will to deploy it.
Infrastructure development remains important, and engaging the legal fraternity is appreciated. But the larger and more urgent task is serving the ordinary citizen – the litigant whose years of waiting remain the true measure of whether justice has been delivered.
The Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan’s recommendations, if decentralised and acted upon, offer a starting point that does not require new legislation, only institutional will.
