Islamabad, July 15 (IANS) International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) has said that the judicial corruption in Pakistan is at systemic scale and may amount to grand corruption. It also warned that the justice system of the country has become increasingly vulnerable to political influence and institutional capture, local media reported on Wednesday.
The FIDH made the observations in a report titled ‘Under the Bench: Mapping Corruption Risks in Pakistan’s Justice System’. It said that judicial corruption in Pakistan has serious human rights implications, including violations of due process and equality before the law, especially affecting low-income communities and minorities, leading Pakistani daily Dawn reported.
As per the executive summary, Pakistan’s democratic institutions, including the judiciary, have been experiencing increasing pressure over the past several years and have been facing gradual weakening and capture by the executive branch.
“This has been accompanied by severe repression of fundamental freedoms, facilitated by repressive legislation and grave violations of human rights. In this context, the judiciary has become a tool for repression and silencing of activists and dissidents,” it mentioned.
The report said its findings are based on interviews with 30 interlocutors, including four women, who have knowledge about Pakistan’s justice system. Those interviewed included lawyers, former and retired judges, journalists and and representatives of civil society organisations.
According to the report, the 26th and 27th Constitutional Amendments have had a negative impact on judicial independence and the protection of fair trial rights in Pakistan, Dawn reported.
It stated that these developments mark a “regressive shift” in Pakistan’s legal and constitutional order by stripping the limited independence which the judiciary previously had. The report stated that judicial appointments, bench formation and high-level case management now face political influence contradicting international standards for judicial independence.
According to the report, corruption has become endemic throughout Pakistan’s judicial system, undermining the independence and effectiveness of the judiciary and its ability to uphold fair trial rights and protect fundamental freedoms.
It said that three inter-related factors that enable corruption like weak administration of justice across all levels of the judicial system leading to bribery and corrupt practices; cultural dynamics that encourage favouritism and nepotism; and the erosion of judicial independence, which has led to what it terms state capture of the superior judiciary. According to the report, accountability institutions have increasingly been politicised and used for political victimisation instead of mechanisms to address systemic corruption.
–IANS
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