Pakistan lagging due to lack of rule of law: PM Imran Khan

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Tuesday declared that Pakistan has lagged behind due to lack of rule of law. 

Addressing the audience at the groundbreaking of the Islamabad District Courts' building today, the premier said that the tragedy of Pakistan is that there are separate sets of rules for the poor and rich. 

The prime minister spoke at length about the rule of law, speedy justice and development, highlighting where Pakistan went wrong.

We used to see Pakistan moving forward and then it started moving backwards, Prime Minister Imran Khan said, recalling that the country was moving towards development in the 1960s, but then things gradually started going downhill.

Comparing Pakistan with other third world countries such as India and Bangladesh, he said we are far behind in this day and age while these countries have taken the lead.

The premier blamed the lack of rule of law for the state Pakistan is in today. "We have been left behind due to lack of rule of law," he said, highlighting that the powerful and influential segments of society always want to be above the law.

NRO was the biggest injustice 

PM Imran Khan said former military ruler General (retired) Pervez Musharraf had no right to promulgate the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) under which cases against many politicians, political workers and bureaucrats were withdrawn.

“The biggest injustice Gen (retd) Musharraf did to the country was giving NRO,” the premier said, adding that Musharraf did not have the right to give NRO to the powerful because the looted money belonged to the nation. 

"Only a society that upholds the rule of law is prosperous," Prime Minister Imran Khan said.

The weak want justice and the strong want to be above justice, PM Imran Khan said, assuring to extend every possible cooperation to the judiciary in dispensing speedy and inexpensive justice to the common man.

The prime minister noted that supremacy of law is important to uplift any society. Provision of justice to the masses is our priority, he said.

The premier said he was proud of being part of the 2007 Lawyers' Movement which was aimed at strengthening democracy and ensuring rule of law.

He called it a "historic" struggle. The premier, however, regretted that the movement could not achieve its desired results.

Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Athar Minallah, in his remarks, appreciated the premier for the initiative of the Islamabad District Courts' building, which aims to facilitate judges, lawyers and litigants. He said the district courts are the guarantor of the rights of weak segments of society.