Strong accountability, efficient legal aid system vital for inclusive justice: speakers

Islamabad

Strengthening transparency as well as accountability mechanism along with vivid legal aid system is very much crucial to ensure effective rule of law and access to justice.

These were the unanimous views of the speakers and panelists here at national level advocacy seminar held under the auspices of Insaf Network Pakistan (INP) on Strengthening Access to Justice through Fair Trial, Legal Aid and Community Paralegal Mechanism in Pakistan. INP is a consortium of 37 civil society organisations working across
Pakistan — from Gilgit-Baltistan to Sindh — on the theme of access to justice and legal empowerment of the poor.

The event was participated by eminent individuals from judiciary, government, legal fraternity, civil society, media and others including Secretary Law & Justice Commission of Pakistan Barrister Sarwar Khan, representative of Enhanced Democratic Accountability and Citizens Engagement (EDACE) Amjad Bhatti, former VC Pakistan Bar Council Azam Nazeer Tarar, Chairperson INP Farrah Azeem, VC Sindh Bar Council Barrister Salahuddin ,Chairman Legal Aid and Legal Education Pakistan Bar Council Shoaib Shaheen, Member Sindh Bar Council Naeem Qureshi and Muhammad Ali Nekokara from INP.

The major discussion points included procedural and structural strengthening of the legal aid system; unification of multiple laws, rules and procedures into a centralised legal aid law and improvement in investigation system for fair and unbiased trial.

The advocacy was backed by an extensive research in aforementioned thematic areas, which was conducted in ICT, Punjab and Sindh. The research identified gaps in procedures and policies and provided recommendations for strengthening rule of law as a way forward.

The research findings on Fair Trial, Legal Aid and Community Paralegal mechanism in Pakistan was presented before the audience by eminent scholars and field experts.

The presentations were followed by group discussions among relevant stakeholders, which further augmented the research findings. One of the papers presented at the event documented International Best Practices in Community Paralegal Programme while other identified and analysed the successes and failures in the varying approaches that international donor programmes (recent and ongoing) have adopted with regards to legal aid projects in Pakistan.

The speakers and panelists applauded the initiative undertaken by INP and reiterated the research findings and at the same time assured their support in advocating the recommendations to the policy makers and the government officials for improving access to justice for all thereby complementing rule of law in Pakistan.

Ms Farrah Azeem Khan, chairperson INP, appreciated the interest and commitments of the audience and the INP team to make this event and this initiative a success. She also reinforced the need for continued support by the distinguished guests and participants to facilitate access to justice for poor and marginalised segments of our society.