The Express Tribune Editorial 29 April 2021

Commercial courts

The Punjab government plans to set up special commercial courts across the province to help expedite hearings and decisions in such cases. The courts have already been notified in five districts, with more expected to come soon. Various courts have already begun transferring related cases to these courts, which are mandated to decide cases within 180 days. E-filing and restrictions on adjournments are among the many features of the new courts set up through the promulgation of the Punjab Commercial Courts Ordinance. That would be a welcome change from the way many commercial cases linger on in the regular court system, where it can take years for decisions to come.

The new ordinance was reportedly drafted after getting input from the World Bank and the Lahore High Court to improve ‘ease of doing business’, an area where Pakistan continues to have several problems.

The ordinance includes support for alternative dispute resolution, which allows for certain types of cases to be decided outside of the formal legal system if both parties agree, thus helping avoid clogging up the courts while ensuring quick justice. This is also expected to have a knock-on effect on foreign investment in Pakistan which is placed at 156 among the 190 countries in the World Bank’s ranking of contract enforcement. Why would anyone risk investing in a ‘lawless’ country? Indeed, a glance at the rankings shows that almost all of the top-ranked countries are considered ‘developed’ or are almost there. It is no surprise that Rwanda, which comes in at 32 — ahead of the UK — is the highest-ranked developing country, given that it is considered one of the best-managed and high-potential economies in the world.

While some aspects of the new ordinance could certainly use polishing, such as the lack of specifics on how decisions regarding the award of court costs would be taken, the law, in general, is a welcome initiative. Apart from the investment potential that could be realised through legal reforms, millions of Pakistani businesses and individuals will also benefit from more efficient courts.

Apartheid in Israel

It is well known that the Arabs living in their own lands under Israeli occupation have long been facing tyranny, and this has been taking different forms with the passage of time. Now Human Rights Watch in its report says the state of Israel is practising ‘apartheid’ against its Arab population. The HRW findings, based on administrative policies and practices in vogue in Israel, have brought to the fore another bitter reality that the indigenous people are being subjected to persecution and apartheid, which is near-institutionalised. Non-Arabs and Arabs go to different educational institutions, to different wards in hospitals, and the Arabs are not allowed to enter non-Arab settlements without permit. A particular race is allowed to settle in large numbers in occupied territories while those from the other group are denied permission to build houses.

Apartheid is prevalent in all spheres of life. It is the same kind of discrimination and racial segregation that had been practised in South Africa. As expected, the Israeli government has rejected the HRW report. It has always dismissed international censure and impartial criticism with scorn and contempt. Throughout its existence, Israel has displayed utmost arrogance and self-love. During its aggression against Gaza, this egotism was witnessed on TV screens. The entire world watched Gazans’ slaughter by the Israeli armed forces and how some cruel Israelis sitting in sofas and beach chairs with drinks in their hands enjoyed the modern ‘gladiatorial games.’ Israel and Hamas are facing probe into alleged war crimes by the ICJ. Israel says it will not cooperate with the investigations into the alleged war crimes during the 2014 war.

It was through international pressure that the abominable system of apartheid had been dismantled in South Africa. HRW has called upon the world community to impose sanctions on the Israeli state institutions and officials promoting persecution and apartheid. This is the only way to knock some sense into the heads of the arrogant ruling classes of Israel.

200-plus deaths

Pakistan’s single-day death toll from Covid-19 has crossed the 200 mark for the first time since the lethal virus set foot in the country on February 26, 2020. The NCOC on Tuesday confirmed that 201 people died of the novel infection across the country during the previous 24 hours amid a Covid-positivity rate of 10.77 per cent. In the beginning of March, the rate of Covid-positive cases in the country was hovering around 3.5% with the number of daily deaths less than 50. But the numbers started soaring from then onwards, indicating the feared third strike of the virus. And, for the past two weeks or so, the Covid-positivity rate has climbed past 10 per cent and the number of daily deaths has gone in excess of 100, with spikes of 150-plus on certain days.

Concerned about avoiding an India-like emergency, the government is seriously considering a total lockdown of cities that show worrying Covid-infestation rate – something that the government has resisted all along, despite pressure from the opposition and the medical fraternity. The NCOC has, through a letter, informed the administrations of as many as 20 cities to be prepared for a possible lockdown from May 2/3. The cities that may be put under a lockdown include Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Multan, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Bahawalpur, Hyderabad, Peshawar, Lower Dir, Mardan, Nowshera, Malakand, Charsadda, Swat, Swabi, Muzaffarabad, Sudhnuti, Poonch and Bagh.

Also, the federal education ministry has announced the cancellation of all exams under local education boards until June 15 and those of Cambridge until October, with the exception of A2 exams for students who want to take them for the purpose of applying to foreign universities. The decision has been widely welcomed by parents who were not comfortable with the thought of sending their children to presumably crapped examination halls with a big waiting population outside. However, the belated decision – coming after A Level students had sit exams on Monday and Tuesday – has also drawn criticism from many students and their parents.

The tightening of the curbs and use of armed forces to ensure public compliance with the SOPs are steps in the right direction. The public must also cooperate with the authorities so that the nation could ride past the reigning third wave of the virus less scathed.