AN impetus for social change in Pakistan; an inspiration for South Asian societies; a silver lining to achieve a fair justice system; standard bearers for the independence of judiciary. This is how the Pakistani lawyers defined themselves throughout their 2007 movement for the restoration of the deposed judges.

Mr Paul Marsh, the then president of the Law Society of England & Wales, wrote to the Pakistan Supreme Court Bar Association to express his support confirming international recognition of the movement.

This achievement came at a hefty price paid by the lawyers who were placed under house arrest, imprisoned, burnt, injured and killed during demonstrations in almost all parts of the country. Despite dissensions due to the lawyers’ political allegiances, the judges were restored — and that was how far we got; that was, in fact, the end of the lawyers movement. Unfortunately, a fair justice system is still an unrealised dream for our nation.

The lawyers must take a proactive approach in making justice work.

A year ago, reports showed that more than 1.7 million cases were pending with the Supreme Court, the high courts as well as the lower courts.

Only the Islamabad High Court had yet to dispose of over 13,000 cases accumulated over the period of one year The picture in the provincial courts is a lot gloomier.

Apart from inculpating the benighted executive, let’s admit that we lawyers, as officers of the courts, are simply failing the nation to achieve a reliable justice system. What right do we have to berate others including the government, when we are not performing our role despite holding an LL.B degree as a minimum qualification?

In courts, we observe case adjournments on petty grounds on a daily basis. Do we realise that this is a huge drain on the public purse?

There is a lengthy chain of the wastage of time and resources of everyone involved in the process; valuable judicial time, police vans carrying prisoners coming from far-flung areas only to take the prisoners back without a hearing; expert witnesses, eg, forensic scientists and doctors whose time will be wasted, crippling both the health and the justice systems.

Then there are poor clients attending courts only to find out that there is a strike and the courts are dishing out new dates.

Who is to take care of this loss of valuable public resources which can be spent on improving public security measures or recruiting more judges? The lawyers must act as custodians of the public purse and take a more proactive approach in making the justice system work in the best interests of our country and our people.

As a starting point, the bar councils at all levels should form committees consisting of lawyers, representatives of the judiciary and local government administrations and those of the general public. The committees should be tasked with undertaking a review of the causes impeding the delivery of speedy justice and that of issues faced by the general public in the litigation process.

The committees should then submit their reports along with the recommendations to improve the lugubrious situation in the courts, within one to two months, to the presidents of the bars.

The presidents should make sure that measures are taken to implement the recommendations in order to achieve a fair and efficient justice system.

Pakistani lawyers demonstrated that they could bring a change where civilian and military regimes failed miserably.

We need to make sure that we achieve an effective justice system which ensures a fair trial, a right that is guaranteed under Article 10A of the Constitution. We are in desperate need of developing a culture where we put the interests of Pakistan and Pakistanis first instead of our affiliations with political parties.

Litigation blights people’s lives. It is the lawyers’ responsibility to help ameliorate conditions in our country by providing a fair, effective and impartial justice system. Thomas Erskine, while defending his client Thomas Paine in 1792, passionately stated: “I will forever, at all hazards, assert the dignity, independence, and integrity of the … bar; without which, impartial justice ... can have no existence.”

It should also not be forgotten that as a result of increased confidence and trust in the justice system, increasingly people will turn to the courts rather than preferring to settle scores by resorting to violent means. This will, inevitably, result in peace, stability and improved business activity in the country and benefit our nation. As John F. Kennedy rightly put it, let us light a candle instead of cursing the darkness. Unless we achieve the objects of the lawyers’ movement, it will just be a part of our history pages gathering dust and smuts.

The writer is a lawyer.

Published in Dawn, January 20th, 2016