Judicial Conference: Panel under Justice Khosa to implement recommendations

ISLAMABAD: The Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Saqib Nisar on Saturday announced to form a committee to ensure implementation of the recommendations given in the Judicial Conference and requested Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, the senior most judge of the Supreme Court, to head the implementation committee.

Addressing the closing session of the two-day 8th Judicial Conference here, the chief justice said the judiciary is a guardian of the constitution and its members have taken an oath to defend it at any cost. “Judiciary will never violate its oath,” Justice Saqib Nisar said. “We are very fortunate to have a constitution. Rule of law ensures success and progress in societies,” he said. The chief justice said the preface of the Constitution says the country should be run by the elected representatives “hence we respect the Parliament”. He said it’s the duty of the judiciary to protect the basic human rights.

Earlier, the Judicial Conference concluded here at the Federal Judicial Academy (FJA) with the consolidated recommendations as Islamabad Declaration 2018. The inaugural and concluding sessions of the conference were presided over by Chief Justice Saqib Nisar who is also Chairman of the Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan. Several national and international researchers, members of academia, judges, lawyers and professional experts deliberated upon the thematic groups of the conference chaired by the judges of the Supreme Court. The recommendations were presented by the chairperson of each thematic group in the concluding session and they were approved by the house as the Islamabad Declaration 2018.

The conference declared the enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings as crimes and recommended that those responsible for the commission of such acts must be prosecuted as criminals. The conference while deliberating upon combating extremism, stressed for enforcement of Anti-Terrorism Act, recommending that terrorists and terrorist organisations must be proscribed without delay and they must not be permitted to hold meetings or propagate their views, must not be allowed to contest elections and those claiming to be members of the proscribed organisations be prosecuted in accordance with Anti-Terrorism Act.

To counter extremist ideology, the conference recommended that a counter terrorism narrative must be developed and disseminated. “Those under trial for terrorist acts or convicted for them must be weaned away from the extremist ideology espoused by them,” says the declaration.

The conference proposed that if the media broadcasts and propagates the views of terrorists, then those doing so must be prosecuted in accordance with the law. The declaration recommended that priority should be given by courts to criminal trials and when a trial commences, they must proceed without being adjourned.

“As a major cause of adjournments is the non-production of the accused, there must be sufficient vehicles available for transporting them to court,” says the declaration. The conference held that in the terrorist cases where witnesses may be vulnerable, mechanisms be developed to ensure recording of the evidence promptly and concealment of the identity of witnesses, if necessary. Similarly, it added the testimony of such witnesses may also be recorded electronically from a location where the witness feels secure.

The conference stressed for developing standard operating procedures with the help of experts as to how the law enforcement agencies should act, react after a terrorist attack. It recommended that the hardened and desperate criminals should not be kept with the first time offenders.

The Judicial Conference was divided into five thematic groups including regional, economic integration and effective dispute resolution mechanism in the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). This group emphasised that higher environmental standards must be applied to all the CPEC projects based on a harmonised set of policies agreed between the two countries. It said there should also be cooperation and exchange of skills between all the provincial environmental protection agencies.

Similarly, group 2, discussed the alternative dispute resolution methodologies and deterring factors, and stressed that access to justice needs to be facilitated through an alternative to our existing court system at the grass root level under the cover of law.

Similarly, the third thematic group, discussed the strategies for delay reduction and expeditious disposal of the backlog of cases and gave recommendations for curbing adjournments on frivolous grounds, adding unnecessary adjournments sought by counsels should be discouraged.

Likewise, in the fourth thematic group, legal education and uniform selection criteria for judicial officers in Pakistan was considered, stressing the need for greater scrutiny and governance by law schools based on international standards. Similarly, it also stressed the need for a centralised entrance examination uniform for all provinces and to determine as to whether it should be equivalent to the CSS examination.

The fifth thematic group dedicated to relationship of political and economic stability with revamping of criminal justice system, observed that political instability undermines economic stability and therefore should be avoided. It recommended that a broad-based political consensus should develop the economic agenda to foster investment and economic growth.

Courtesy www.thenews.com.pk

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