It is unfortunate that dispensation of speedy justice has been a big issue in the whole history of Pakistan, and in public discussion at community level citizens pray for one another in these words “May God protect you from judiciary and hospitals.”
When a person intentionally or by default indulges in litigation besides mental torture his whole life, time and resources are consumed in the process but still he will not get any relief from the judicial system.
After former presidet Pervez Musharraf’s entanglement with the judiciary and its restoration, people at large hoped that some sort of relief will be provided to them in terms of speedy dispensation of cases. From the initial stage, some reformative steps were also taken like work on National Judicial Policy and its recommendation and other measures for speedy justice which gave some hope to the people but all these hopes were dashed to the ground after four years of restoration of judiciary. Both in lower and higher judiciary the system of adjournment and delaying tactics still persist and confidence of people on getting speedy justice is eroding with the passage of time and they are trying to settle their disputes through alternative ways or preferring to remain silent rather than going to the court for their rights.
The system of justice dispensation is more cumbersome and extremely painful in case of Chitral which is the remotest and largest district of KP. For the purpose of speedy justice in Malakand Division, a separate bench of the Peshawar High Court was established in Swat in 2011 with the title of Darul Qaza and all the cases of Malakand divison, including Chitral, are directly transferred to this bench. In the Peshawar High Court, the litigants of Malakand Division had already hired counsels by paying them exorbitant fees. But after the establishment of the PHC bench in Swat these counsels neither returned the fees to the poverty-stricken litigants nor agreed to defend them in Darul Qaza Swat. Hence millions of rupees of the poor litigants went to waste due to faulty policy of the government and judiciary.
Before taking such a decision there should have been some consultative process in the matter by the judiciary and bar counsels so that the interest of the litigants could be protected and their fees would have been returned. When counsels in Peshawar High Court neither returned fees of the litigants nor represented them in Darul Qaza Swat, it seriously shattered the confidence of the litigants on Bar and Bench and they questioned that they receive injustice in the place which is known for providing justice to the people. Travelling from Peshawar High Court to Swat and losing millions of rupees as fees of the counsels litigants of Malakand Divison had to engage second counsel in Darul Qaza Swat by giving exorbitant fees and still remained stuck.
At the same time, another Circuit Court Chitral has been opened and cases of Chitralis have been transferred to Chitral and litigants for the second time lost fees of the counsels without getting any relief. Those counsels hired in Darul Qaza Swat were neither ready to defend them in Chitral nor returned the fees to them and consequently second time fees of poor litigants in Chitral are terribly lost and their confidence on judiciary further shattered. In Chitral, litigants hired counsels but here the problem is that Circuit Court Chitral door seems closed all the time and judges from Peshawar High Court visit the city a few and far between and only for five of ten days on a quarterly basis. Since the establishment of the Circuit Court in 2012, judges from Peshawar High Court visited Chitral about four times for five or ten days in each term. Hence cases of poverty ridden litigants of Chitral are going to pile up in Circuit Court Chitral which results.
In this connection, the litigants in Chitral humbly request Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Tasaduq Hussain Jillani and Chief Justice Peshawar High Court Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel to take notice of the situation and have mercy on the plight of litigants in Chitral. People of this remote district want speedy justice and they have no more resilience and delay in dispensation of Justice in the area. There should be a permanent Judge for Circuit Court Chitral so that people of the area have easy access to justice otherwise confidence of people on judiciary eroding with each delay in dispensation of cases. We also request to Bar Councils and lawyers community to ensure speedy justice system by discouraging unnecessary adjournments.
At last, we again appeal to Chief Justice Peshawar High Court to have mercy on the people of Chitral and take measures for speedy disposal of hundreds of cases of poor litigants of Chitral which have been transferred from Peshawar High Court to Swat and now those cases are pending in Circuit Court Chitral for the last two years and people and especially litigant community are in serious state of disappointment.]]>
