Appointment rules
IT appears that, despite years of wrangling over the issue, the country’s top legal minds remain unable to decide by themselves what criteria must be followed when making appointments to the superior judiciary. They have chosen, instead, to delegate the matter to the federal government.
According to reports, a recent meeting of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan was adjourned without a debate on the matter after the law minister revealed that the federal government was considering amending the Constitution to alter the process through which superior court judges are appointed. The discussion was put off because the committee’s deliberations would prove futile in case Article 175A, which sets down the rules for judicial appointments, was successfully altered by the government. This would seem like the logical step to take: the only question that remains is, who has the government involved to advise on the legislative changes it intends to make?
It is worth highlighting that there has been a long-running dispute within the superior judiciary over whether judges ought to be appointed based on the ‘seniority principle’, or purely on consideration of merit. It may be recalled that in the summer of 2022, a major dispute had broken out within the JCP over the nomination of several judges by the then chief justice, Umar Ata Bandial.
In several letters and statements addressed to the chief justice, the legal fraternity had demanded the formalisation of some objective criteria under which judges’ merit could be assessed, and for the seniority principle to be followed till such time as these criteria could be agreed to. This past December, the incumbent CJP finally formed a committee to deliberate on the matter and make its recommendations. It was this committee’s recommendations that were supposed to be discussed at the recent meeting, which ended up being adjourned without debate.
It would appear that the government has now been invited to use its powers and make changes to the Constitution in order to more permanently do away with the existing imbalance of power within the JCP, and also enforce a more universally acceptable mechanism for the elevation of judges. As long as such an intervention is aimed solely at making the current appointment system more equitable and giving elected representatives greater say, there appears to be no harm in welcoming it.
However, the judiciary must remain wary. If it had the power to self-regulate, it ought to have exercised it instead of involving the legislature. There have been rumours that the government is also considering making certain changes to judges’ tenure, which could prove controversial. The superior courts cannot afford more drama. It is therefore hoped that the legislative process will remain transparent, and involve all stakeholders in Pakistan’s judicial system.
Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2024
Terrains of dread
KARACHI, with its long history of crime, is well-acquainted with the menace. For some time now, it has witnessed unbridled street crime, robberies, narcotic-related offences and police encounters. Street criminals prey on people freely — outside banks, in traffic jams and markets, even killing citizens when they resist muggings.
Recently, President Asif Ali Zardari instructed the Sindh chief minister to initiate extensive action against street outlaws in the metropolis, drug traffickers, and bandits in the riverine areas of upper Sindh and southern Punjab with the cooperation of other provinces. Some crime control measures by the police were reported to him, such as the Shaheen Force revival, an overhauled Madadgar-15, e-tagging of repeat offenders, and the Sindh Smart Surveillance System project for 40 toll plazas fortified with facial recognition cameras. In addition, a list of minor gains by the police department was put forth in figures.
Out of the 103 kidnappings, 47 went unreported and the force recovered 104 people, while 19 were still missing; street crime cases declined from 252.32 per day in January to 166.2 daily incidents in April; and of the 48 incidents that took 49 lives, 27 were identified, resulting in 43 arrests and 13 police encounters — the last often having controversial implications. But the president’s intervention is shockingly delayed and the provincial government continues to treat a deep malaise with cosmetic touch-ups.
While the aforementioned actions rest on reacting to crime, comprehensive evaluation to identify causes, patterns and trouble spots define proactive policing. Thus, long-term socioeconomic and law-enforcement solutions necessitate multifaceted strategies: training, surveillance, problem-solving and collaborative attitudes among law enforcers.
Moreover, declaring war on the drug mafia often in cahoots with the police and political sanction in Karachi, Hyderabad, Thatta and Sujawal is overdue. Katcha belt banditry, on the other end, is due to the state’s abandonment of an impoverished region and its unwillingness to plug feudal gains from arms smuggling, bhatta and other offences. Education, roads, employment and health facilities jeopardise powerful interests who force the poor to survive through illegal means.
Isolated firefighting is not a panacea. Safety and upliftment of urban, rural and katcha areas, a cleansed, bolstered security force and restored faith in the police is unachievable without political commitment and interprovincial support. Finally, rehabilitative methods, not violence, defeat crime.
Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2024
Plugging the gap
IN Pakistan, bias begins at birth for the girl child as discriminatory norms, orthodox attitudes and poverty impede progress. However, Unicef Pakistan recently presented a National Gender Strategy (2024-2027) to generate a transformative shift for multitudes of girls between 10 to 19 years. It believes that effective implementation of the policy in rural and urban areas can tackle inequalities and improve female lives, including those defined by disability. A significant component of the plan is to engage leaders, clerics, boys and men so that existing narratives change and all women have agency. Unicef also highlights the lamentable fact that Pakistan has nearly 19m child brides, 54pc were pregnant before the age of 18, and 88pc of underage girls live in poverty. The UN’s 2023 Gender Social Norms Index was not a cheerful read either. It stated that improvement in prejudices against women had been static for a decade. In this scenario, the UN agenda to attain gender equality by 2030 for all countries is a long shot.
There is no denying that several social mores propel gender inequality and deal a blow to women’s freedoms. As more people are pushed below the poverty line in a moribund economy, indigence is set to widen the gender gap with reduced access to healthcare, education and profitable opportunities. In these circumstances, perhaps Unicef Pakistan’s gender equitable programming ought to start with areas where the honour of men depends on making women invisible, as in parts of Balochistan and KP. Females in hyper-conservative areas are entirely disenfranchised, trapped in the culture of bride price, the sale of girls for monetary gain or to resolve disputes, and the absence of reproductive rights and socioeconomic liberties. All this must change with schooling, healthcare and employment and cultivating empathy and awareness among men. Closing gender gaps matters because it promises social justice and prosperity. It is a long road but we cannot finish last.
Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2024