William E Gladstone, Former British Prime Minister in the late 1800's, famously said 'justice delayed is justice denied'.
Total courts cases pending before Pakistan's superior judiciary as per last 5 years' data: 380436
Supreme court of Pakistan: 51744
Lahore High Court Punjab:179425
Sindh High Court: 85781
Peshawar High Court: 41911
Islamabad High Court:17104
Baluchistan High Court: 4471
"The rule of law demands habitual obedience to the law and what the law seeks to promote is Justice. When there is a lack of legislation for curbing social evils, or even if there is, but the same is ineffective and inefficient, then justice cannot be obtained. When the justice system is synonymous with ´Might is Right ‘or when the legal process is lengthy, unavailable, or full of interruptions. Then justice cannot be obtained. To maintain rule of law in a society laws must be in conformity with the needs of society. Outdated or irrelevant laws must be repealed and laws should be in accordance with modern-day norms.
Among all the three main organs of the State, under the constitution of 1973, an efficient judiciary is crucial to democracy, governance, security, and economic growth. An independent judiciary certifies that the Rule of Law is available to all citizens. But, unfortunately, the judiciary in Pakistan is full of flaws, and People in Pakistan are also exhausted with such a system and therefore are reluctant to avail court remedies.
This article will attempt to highlight the reasons for people´s mistrust and non-satisfaction with the prevailing judicial system in Pakistan. For this purpose, the essay will present the standing of Pakistan’s justice sector (scrutinized under international justice indicators), what are the deficiencies in our judicial system? What legal, economic, social, cultural, and political hurdles are causing a trust deficit among the people? This essay will also attempt to examine the measures that can be taken to improve the judicial system in Pakistan and this will be done by analysing the judicial system of the world’s top-ranked states.
The World Justice Project (WJP) measures rule of law performance in 128 countries is based on eight factors, which include; Constraints on Government Powers, Absence of Corruption, Open Government, Fundamental Rights, Order and Security, Regulatory Enforcement, Civil Justice, and Criminal Justice.[2]"
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