Chaudhry Ahsan Premee
On the second day of the
Conference, the participants assembled in nine thematic
groups which were headed by the
Judges of the Supreme Court and co-chaired by the
Judges of the Supreme Court and
the Chief Justices of High Courts. The foreign
delegates also participated in
all the groups with great enthusiasm and came up with
sound recommendations. After
discussion, each group formulated recommendations
which were presented in the
concluding session by the Chairperson of the respective
group on the basis of which a
declaration was drafted and presented in the concluding
session. The participants of the
Conference unanimously adopted the same as a Declaration of International
Judicial Conference 2013 where in it has been recommended as under:
Groups I: Role of Judiciary in
Developing World.
That judiciary needs to be
strengthened as an institution rather than placing a
wholehearted reliance upon the
strength of a few individuals. A clearly defined and
structured exercise of suo moto
jurisdiction needs to be evolved. That the judicial
system needs to be reformed in
such a way that majority of the cases are decided in
district courts without prospects
of endless appeals. That the judiciary should play an
active part in enforcing rule of
law which is pivotal in the developing world to counter
corruption, infringement of
fundamental rights and excesses of state functionaries. That
specialized judicial education
should be imparted whereby judicial officers are trained in
technological advancements. That
renewed efforts are required to inform and educate
people on their rights, which
they can enforce through courts of law. The judiciary as a
whole should move towards
computerization of the entire system so that the mischief
emanating from the current manual
system may be suppressed. The judiciaries of the
developing world must assert
themselves vigorously so that constitutional schemes and
intents are properly implemented
for the betterment of the populations at large.
Groups II: The Rule of Law and
International Peace.
That the recognized international
principles of rule of law should be implemented in
letter and spirit. That mechanism
should be evolved for dispute resolution amongst the
states and it should be ensured
that all states respect, secure and protect human rights irrespective of
religion, ethnicity or nationality. That the Government of Pakistan should
initiate and take appropriate
steps for revamping and updating of international rules for
upholding peace in the
international community, particularly, international rules should
be devised to regulate and govern
robotic and cyber warfare without encroaching upon
the sovereignty of states.
Groups III :
Terrorism and Money Laundering.
That the threat of Terrorism and
Money Laundering transcends national boundaries of
civilized nations and affects the
very fabric of any society at large and undermine the
rule of law. That Pakistan
has incurred a heavy cost, both in terms of life and property,
while fulfilling its
international obligations to counter terrorism being a responsible
member of the comity of nations,
however, specific legal steps need to be taken to
address several areas of
concerns, such as, strengthening of anti-terrorism laws,
capacity building of stakeholders
responsible for prosecuting these offences, mutual
legal assistance with various
countries for effective prosecution of trans-national
organized crimes, witness
protection, collection of evidence and investigation, etc.
Groups IV: Public Interest
Litigation; a tool to Protect Fundamental Rights.
That public interest litigation
should be recognized as a valid and powerful tool of legal
empowerment for the
underprivileged sections of society. That awareness needs to be
raised amongst the general public
about remedies which have become available to
them on account of recent
developments in this field of law. That public interest
litigation should be dealt with
in a manner which also affirms the role of other judicial
forums. That the Supreme Court’s
jurisprudence on Article 184(3) of the Constitution be
systematically analyzed and
crystallized on an ongoing basis. That further empirical
research needs to be conducted on
public interest litigation in Pakistan
in order to make
popular discourse more informed.
Groups V: The Role of Judiciary
in Consumer Protection.
That for the effective protection
of consumer rights, equally comprehensive legislation
should be enacted across all the
provinces with the establishment of Consumer
Protection Councils and Consumer
Courts thereunder and the enactment of required
rules and regulations without
further delay. That to improve access to justice, Courts
should be established at the
sub-division level with straightforward procedure under the
consumer protection laws that
encourage consumers to approach the court and remove
deficiencies in the statutes for
recording of evidence and execution of decrees. That
disparities between different
legislation should be removed and the jurisdiction of
Consumer Courts enhanced for
greater efficacy.
Groups VI: Legal and Judicial
Education.
That the judgment passed by the
Hon’ble Supreme Court of Pakistan in Pakistan Bar
Council v. Federal Government (PLD
2007 Supreme Court 394) must be implemented in
letter and spirit by the
Universities and Colleges of Law, all across Pakistan .
There needs
to be an integrated legal
education system following a uniform curriculum, including
optional modules with respect to
developing areas of law. That the Federal and
Provincial Governments should
allocate greater resources to the Universities. The
Judicial academies should
prioritise research and publication and undertake Training
Needs Assessment (TNA) to ensure
effective capacity building of future judges for better
dispensation of justice in the
future.
Groups VII :
Alternate Dispute Resolution.
That the Bench, the Bar and other
stakeholders need training on ADR for which training
programs should be devised by the
Bar Councils in collaboration with the Law and
Justice Commission, and the
Pakistan Bar Council should introduce a course on ADR in
the LL.B degree program. That an
official institute of arbitrators be established so that
persons from fields relevant to
the matter in dispute are readily available. The “Lok
Adalat” system as introduced and
developed in India
should be examined to see how it
can be used for our mutual
benefit and the ADR mechanisms already available in the
Law should be highlighted and
fully enforced. Groups VIII: Parental Child Abduction and Transnational
Jurisdiction.
That in view of the significance
of the issue of Parental Child Abduction as well as the
sensitivity and compassion is
required. That when dealing with such cases a range of
social, moral and psychological
issues must be considered in addition to legal concerns.
That in order to prevent parental
child abduction final judgments of Family Courts
relatable to wrongful
transnational movement of children should be enforced by
Immigration Agencies. That the
concerned parties should be made aware about the
available pro bono and legal aid
options within and outside Pakistan
to provide relief to
aggrieved persons. Legal
luminaries, jurists, and other specialists may strive to resolve
conflict of international laws
pertaining transnational child abduction and reach a formal
consensus as to the "best
interests" of the child among the various jurisdictions. That it
is necessary to carry out a pre-ratification
consideration of all aspects of the Hague
Convention and possible
reservations to ratification, as well as ensuring wide circulation
of the Pakistan-UK Protocol on
Children Matters. That the achievements of the Malta
Process and the working party on
mediation in family law be extended full support and
domestically specialist judges be
appointed in family courts to deal with such matters.
Groups IX: Cyber Crimes.
That stakeholder may draft
cybercrime bill for placing before the national assembly for
immediate promulgation. That the
government should urgently seek accession to
Multilateral Mutual Legal
Assistance Treaties including the convention on cybercrime to
effectively combat cybercrime.
The FIA ’s NRC should be institutionalized on
a
permanent basis and should only
include qualified personnel with respect to
investigation as well as
prosecution of cybercrime. That abuse of cybercrime laws by
conflating them with telecom
offences and a disproportionate focus on telecom as
opposed to true cybercrime which
harms the public should cease. That capacity must be
built in order to enable
collection of digital evidence. That collection should be on-site
as opposed to physical seizure
and removal of equipment that negatively impacts rights
of other users and continuity of
legitimate business. That fundamental Rights need to be
specially protected in light of
the new and unique powers available to investigation
agencies at all times ensuring
independent judicial supervision.
The Conference ended with the
concluding speech by the Hon’ble Chief Justice of
enthusiastic participation in the
Conference, particularly in the proceedings of the
Working Sessions for formulation
of recommendations of the Conference and a vote of
thanks by the Secretary Law and
Justice Commission of Pakistan .