RULE OF LAW AND THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE

By abrogating each of four successive Constitutions, and by subjecting the country to decades of martial law and other forms of undemocratic rule, Pakistan's leaders created the national perception that law is an instrument of control rather than of relief, redress and security. The general public has come to resent the law as arbitrary and malicious, while the impunity with which members of the ruling elite flout it is an indication of the contempt in which they hold the law. While human rights groups have sensitized individual politicians who happen to be receptive to the concerns of their electorate, the democratic process is virtually non-existent in an increasingly confrontational Parliament and in law-making procedures which do not permit public or Parliamentary debate.

The judicial system established by the 1973 Constitution has been effectively weakened by the creation of a separate Federal Shariat Court mandated to strike down any law deemed repugnant to the injunctions of Islam. The decisions of the Shariat Court are binding upon the High Courts and cannot be over-ridden by Parliament. Moreover, Presidential powers compromise the independence of High Court judges and of the Supreme Court judges nominated to the Shariat Court. Furthermore, many individuals and groups, who recognize that its autonomy is essential to democratic development, have expressed strong concerns about the independence of the judiciary in general.