Report: Symposium on 'The State of Criminal Justice in Pakistan'

This volume of the Pakistan Law Review is a publication of a symposium organized by the Pakistan Center of the Legal Research and Publication (PCLRP) (a project of the Pakistan college of Law). The symposium was organized in collaboration with the Arizona State University-Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law. The symposium was premised on the Criminal Justice System of Pakistan. The event was held at the Pakistan College of Law on Saturday, November 4, 2017 between the hours of 10:00 am - 6:00pm. Participants of the event comprised of academics from law schools across Pakistan and lawyers from institutions such as the Digital Rights Foundation and the Institute of Development & Economic Alternatives (IDEAS).

The event was divided into three sessions bracketed by an inaugural session and a closing session. The symposium was opened by the inaugural session where Professor Tasneem Kausar, the Principal of the Pakistan College of Law, impressed upon the audience the relevance of the criminal justice system. She laid out the plan of the event and the course the relevant proceedings would be taking. She then introduced the Keynote speaker for the event, Justice (R) Khalil ur Rehman Ramday, a former judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. He discussed a very pertinent issue of the criminal justice system of Pakistan which followed the reasoning that in trying to ‘fix’ the system and in trying to replace the imprints of our former colonial masters, the value associated with the sanctity of this system’s proceedings, had been forgotten. This was followed by a small address of the audience by Professor Humayon Ihsan, the dean of the Pakistan College of Law.

The first session of the symposium was titled ‘From the other Half: Women and the Criminal Justice System’. This session discussed research on topics relevant to females subject to the criminal justice system. The first speaker was Miss Shmyla Khan, a graduate of the University of Michigan and the project manager of the Cyber Harassment helpline at the Digital Rights Foundation in Pakistan. She authored a research paper titled ‘Using Criminal Law to Tackle Cyber Harassment: Conceptual and Procedural Pitfalls from a Feminist Perspective’ which discussed cybercrime laws relevant to females in the country, critically assessing their achievements and failures. The second speaker of the session was Miss Sanah Ehsan ur Rehman, a former prosecutor (ADPP) and a current civil judge. She presented a research paper titled ‘Women in Imprisonment: A Gender Sensitized Approach for Reform in Criminal Justice System of Pakistan’. She elaborated on the unmet needs of females subject to the criminal justice in Pakistan and made suggestions of reform for problems discussed by her. The third speaker of the session was Miss Zoya Rehman who had served as a supreme court clerk, and currently worked at the Digital Rights Foundation. Her research paper was titled ‘Decriminalizing Domestic Violence: What Do the Shortfalls of the Punjab Protection of Women Against Violence Act 2016 Indicate About the Overall Construction of Domestic Violence in Pakistan’s Criminal Justice System?’. In which she discussed the lack of recognition of domestic violence as a crime within the criminal justice system in Pakistan and further elaborated the expanse of the crime and the current non-legal mechanisms in place to deal with its victims. The last presenter for the session was Miss Hina Altaf Bajwa, the chairperson of the Women Rights Committee Punjab (Lahore High Court Bar Council) currently working with the president of the Lahore high court bar association. Her paper was titled ‘Protection of Women Act 2006: an adequate shield from the Mischief of the Zina Ordinance 1979’ which critically assessed the failures of the Zina Ordinance and the attempt by its descendant legislation to fix them. This concluded the presentations for Session I and was followed by a moderator led discussion of the presentations, which included questions and answers with the audience.

The second session commenced following a small break for lunch and was titled ‘Convicting the Young, Weak and Innocent’. This session involved discussions on a wide variety of topics. The first presentation by Miss Maryam S. Khan, a research fellow at the Institute of Development of Economic Alternatives (IDEAS), which is a think tank based in Lahore. It was titled ‘Judging the Values of Pakistan’s Criminal Procedure Laws’. She discussed the quality of protection given to the core values protected by the criminal justice system and she encouraged the audience to think about this system in terms offering unqualified deference to the constitutional values of the country. The next presentation was by Dr Mudasra Sabreen who holds a PhD in law from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Law at the Islamic International University in Islamabad. Her presentation was titled the ‘Age of Criminal Responsibility and its Impact on the Dispensation of Justice in Pakistan’. She discussed the various categorisations of the age of majority in Pakistan, offered by Islam and the current law, and suggested reforms for the current law on the age of majority in Pakistan. This was followed by a presentation by Dr Usman Hameed, who holds a PhD from the University of Glasgow-School of Law and currently serves as an associate professor of law at the University of Sargodha. His presentation was on ‘Protecting Due Process Rights of Persons Suffering from Mental Disability: A Critical Study of the Safeguards provided under Pakistan's Criminal Justice System’. He focused on a recent judgment of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and the rationale it promulgated for the defence of insanity for criminal trials in Pakistan. The last presentation for this session was by Mr Shayan Malik, in his second year at the New York University-Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. His presentation was titled ‘Blasphemy: A Crime of the Pakistan Penal Code versus its Traditional Perspective’. This presentation discussed the laws of blasphemy in Pakistan in context of the Pakistan Penal Code and the Islamic perspective on the subject. This was followed by a moderator led discussion of the presentations accompanied by questions and answers with the audience.

The third session of the symposium followed this. It was titled ‘Demands on Criminal Justice System’ and involved discussions on the offence of terrorism and powers of the prosecutors in Pakistan. The first presentation for this session was by Dr Ataullah Mehmood, a former deputy assistant judge and advocate general with a Phd from the Islamic International University, Islamabad, where he currently serves as an assistant professor of Law. His presentation was on ‘A Speedy and Inexpensive Criminal Justice System’ where he discussed powers accorded to prosecutors in the process of prosecution and proposed plea bargaining as a solution to the problems of speed and expense faced by the criminal justice system. This was followed by a presentation by Dr Asif Khan, who holds a PhD in Public International Law from the University of Salzburg, Austria and currently serves as the head of department of law at the university of Malakand. His presentation was on ‘Defining Terrorism in National Laws’. He discussed the differential approach required for definitions of terrorism by the system of criminal justice and analysed the Pakistani definition of terrorism in this context. The last presentation for this session was by Dr Nadia Khadam, who holds a PhD from University of Seoul, South Korea and currently serves as the Senior Assistant Professor at the Department of Law in Bahria University in Islamabad. Her research was titled ‘Counter Terrorism and Charging Standards for Prosecutors’ where she discussed various tests applicable to charges of prosecution for crimes of terrorism. This was followed by a moderator led discussion and a question and answer session with the audience.

This was followed by the closing session. The keynote speaker for the closing session was Chief Justice (R) Mian Allah Nawaz, the former Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court. He expanded upon the value of the criminal justice system and encouraged all present to be the agents of change for criminal justice in Pakistan. This concluded the proceedings of the symposium. The research promulgated thereby is contained in the pages of this volume.