ABBOTTABAD July 19: Omar Asghar Khan Foundation organised a people’s assembly here the other day in connection with the International Justice Day and demanded legal reforms to provide easy access to justice to people.

Civil society representatives from different parts of Hazara attended the function. Calling for reform in justice provision system, they suggested that legal reforms must be instituted to provide for people’s access to fair court and non-court mechanisms for dispute resolution. “Unjust parallel systems must be abolished and laws applied uniformly,” they said.

Speaking on the occasion, the foundation’s chairman Ali Asghar Khan criticised the government for its failure to provide inexpensive and expeditious justice to people. He pointed out that in 2011 the federal government had spent only 0.1 per cent of its total budget on the court system.

He said that against the international standard of 70-110 judges per one million citizens, Pakistan presently had an average of 10 judges for one million citizens, which was one of the reasons for lengthy court processes.

“The lack of policy priority is denying citizens their fundamental right to legal remedies compelling many to suffer injustices silently,” he said. Mr Khan called for citizen activism to demand reform of the justice system besides appropriate fund allocation for the purpose.

According to a 2011 study conducted by the foundation, 83 per cent of 1,500 respondents cited increased intolerance as one of the key reasons for escalating conflicts in Pakistani society.