People want supremacy of law, not culture of corruption: CJP
The police had a crucial role in protecting the right to a fair trial, and in the prevention and investigation of the crimes.”
Mian Saqib Nisar, Chief Justice of Pakistan
islamabad — Chief Justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar said on Monday that the people wanted supremacy of law and not the culture of bribery and corruption in the country.
Addressing a ceremony regarding police reforms organised by the Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan, Justice Nisar said the judiciary did not interfere with the functioning of any institution and delivering justice within its remit.
“If I visited a hospital then it was to tell them that treatment facilities were not there,” he remarked.
The chief justice said the police had a crucial role in protecting the right to a fair trial, and in the prevention and investigation of the crimes. The existing criminal justice system requires urgent reform as a whole, he added.
The police force, he said, could only function efficiently when they were given administrative, operational and financial autonomy.
The CJP said the Police Reforms Committee headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa was established with the objective of an independent and impartial police force and its recommendations outlined the duties of police officers and the separation of investigation.
By implementation of those recommendations, he said, the trust deficit between the police and public would decrease. A competent, efficient and responsive police force would be created as a result, he added. The chief justice stressed the need to depoliticise the police so that public will repose confidence in the system.
Earlier, LJCP Secretary Dr Muhammad Raheem Awan said the LJCP Secretariat was assisting the Supreme Court in many cases of public interest.
PRC convener Afzal Ali Shigri, former Sindh IGP, stated that in the past, a number of efforts were made to improve the criminal justice system, however, the present initiative was different as it was initiated by the Supreme Court.
Tariq Pervez, former FIA director general, said the police force should be professionally competent, highly accountable and operationally autonomous. An effective public complaints redressal system was essential for police reforms, he added. —