Policy dialogue held at PMAS-AAUR

Rawalpindi : A seminar was held at Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi (PMAS-AAUR) on ‘Policy Dialogue in Public Perception and Criminal Justice in Pakistan’, here on Thursday.

The seminar was organised by PMAS-AAUR Department of Criminology with the objective to aware the students and the faculty members about the hurdles faced by government departments to ensure criminal justice to the public and the importance of the public perception.

Prof. Dr. Qamar uz Zaman, Vice Chancellor PMAS-AAUR was chief guest while Basharat Shehzad Additional DG FIA Headquarters Islamabad, Saqib Sultan Director National Public Safety and Sultan Saleem Mirza DG Headquarters NAB Islamabad participated as guest speakers.

Prof. Dr. Qamar uz Zaman in his address said that we the whole society should rethink our whole system because providing justice is not the only responsibility of the government departments but the society also. He said that our majority does not have the efficient knowledge about the law and their rights. Academia can play a vital role for supporting government in research, research based planning & policy making, he said.

At the end of the session he thanked all the participants and hoped for further more sessions on the topics alike in near future. Focusing on the public interaction, Basharat Shahzad said that action taken in the public feedback should also be given importance because when action would be taken the perception would automatically be improved. He said that there is no database in our country which caused the weak coordination between the police, investigation, prosecution and judiciary departments who are responsible for the justice.

While addressing Saqib Sultan said that justice is the most important act which protects the state and Pakistan is lacking behind in this, according to the World Justice Project 2020 Pakistan falls at the 98th position in world criminal justice. He said that there are faults in the system which changed the public perception negatively of government security and justice departments. He said that police stations should be for police and the criminals not for the common public but the digital interaction only.

During his address Sultan Saleem Mirza said that our legislators should look into the whole system and laws which are affecting our justice system because many of them were inducted from the British rules which are outdated. “We only talk about justice, not about the laws or policies for the convicted, for his contribution to society,” he said.

All the speakers focused on the digitalization of the system which would not only help the working of the government departments but also the community interaction.