ISLAMABAD – Prime Minister Imran Khan Thursday said that the country’s criminal justice system needs to be reformed as the present set-up encourages criminals.
While addressing the launching ceremony of Letters of Administration and Succession Certificates, PM Imran Khan said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government would soon bring reforms in the criminal justice system and a task to the Ministry of Law has already been given for this purpose.
“The reforms in criminal justice system are of utmost importance because (bad) law and order situation in the country is also due to weak criminal system that doesn’t provide timely justice, and encourages criminals,” PM said.
“When crime pays, crime multiplies,” PM said while quoting an English phrase and added that a civilised society gives message that crime doesn’t pay. “When our criminal justice system will properly work, it will give the same message, he also said. PM said that criminals evade from punishment in the present criminal justice system due to lengthy litigations. “When there are difficulties in the system, crimes are committed.”
PM Imran Khan said that land mafias continued to operate in the county and they occupy properties of overseas Pakistanis because the judicial system doesn’t work properly to decide such cases timely.
“We have to bring on board all stakeholders including judiciary and lawyers to make life of the citizens better,” he said. He said that the government has introduced the amended Code of Civil Procedure to decide lands and properties disputes in time that earlier took 30 to 40 years for their resolution. He highlighted that half of the pending cases in the courts were of land disputes.
Prime Minister Imran Khan said that as many 9 million overseas Pakistanis were their strength who sends remittances to the country while contributing in the country’s economy. He said that it used to become difficult for them in the past to get issued succession certificates. He said that those people who had to get succession certificates and their families were dispersed worldwide; they knew how much agony they had to face in the past.
When crime pays, crime multiplies
PM also urged the Law Minster Dr Faroogh Naseem that his government should also make necessary amendments in the inheritance law to give due rights to women in their inheritance. He said that perhaps women get inheritance in urban areas but they are deprived of this right in rural areas. We have to bring the law that would give inheritance rights to women automatically and without going into any litigation, he added.
Talking about the law ministry’s initiative, PM said that the government has brought easiness for a common man. “We consider reforms in the system when it provides relief to a common citizen,” he said adding that that country’s elite find out shortcuts in the system due to their money but common people face difficulties.
The reason behind the corrective measure is to make the life of a common man easier, he said, adding that the inheritance certificates would now be issued within 15 days online.
Reiterating his resolve for transforming Pakistan into a welfare state like Madina, he said that the state was based on the principles of equality and justice.
Information Minister Shibli Faraz, Chairman NADRA Usman Yousaf Mobin, and other senior officers and parliamentarians attended the ceremony besides law minister.
According to details, the law ministry has devised a mechanism to establish Succession Facilitation Units in collaboration with the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) for the issuance of Letters of Administration and Succession Certificates within 15 days of initiation of the application by the legal heirs of the deceased.
Previously, it normally took two to seven years to get a simple Letter of Administration or Succession Certificate, however, it will now take only 15 days, a senior official of NADRA said. “People friendly law reforms are being considered crucial by the present government aimed at ensuring justice through people-friendly legislation,” he added. The PTI government earlier had enacted the Letters of Administration and Succession Certificates Act, 2020.
The Act was crucial to address a common problem faced by the legal heirs of the deceased in the issuance of Letters of Administration and Succession Certificates, claims the government.
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