Protection of Consumer Rights in Pakistan

Consumer Protection and Rights refer to the protection of buyers against a seller’s fraudulent means of selling their goods and services. These laws have been enacted to ensure that sellers do not engage in deceptive practises. The government imposed additional regulations on business firms to disclose more details about their products so that the consumer would be more protected and aware of the commodity that he is willing to purchase.

In 1985, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the following eight fundamental consumer rights for stronger consumer protection policies worldwide for the protection of consumers against dishonesty, fraud, and abuse:

1. The right to safety.
2. The right to choose.
3. The right to be informed.
4. The right to be heard.
5. The right to redress or remedy.
6. The right to service.
7. The right to environmental health.
8. The right to consumer education.

However, if a seller fails to provide the goods or services that were offered to the buyer. He would be liable to indemnify the buyer with certain compensations under the Consumer Protection Act.

Consumers are the most important aspect of every market. The Sindh Consumer Protection Act, 2014 gives out provisions for the consumer protection against the seller’s liability for defective products under Section 4 that states (1) The manufacturer of a product shall be liable to a consumer for damages proximately caused by, a characteristic of the product that renders the product defective when such damage arose from a reasonably anticipated use of the product by a consumer. (2) A product shall be defective only if there is a defect in design, construction because of adequate warning and does not conform to an express warranty. Similarly, Section 10 states that where the consumer has not suffered any damages from the product except the loss of utility, the manufacturer shall not be liable for any damages except a return of the consideration or a part thereof and the costs.

In today’s digital world, many online scams occur every day, but hardly any of them are reported or the victim gets compensated. Previously, in November 2020, a young YouTuber ordered a drone from DARAZ. When he received the package, the seller delivered only waste newspapers in the box; exposing the fraud. The question here arises: who committed the fraud and who was to be blamed? Was it Daraz ? Or was it the vendor who had been selling on Daraz? After that they upload that video on social media and it goes viral. Furthermore, as his video went viral on social media, he did receive compensation from Daraz. They compensated them with proper kits of vlogging and drones.

In today’s digital world, many online scams occur every day, but hardly any of them are reported or the victim gets compensated.  

As another example, big supermarkets have been accused of overpricing and defrauding clients through a Ramzan discount offer. Manipulation of product weight and deception of customers seem, by all accounts, to be really far-reaching nowadays.[1] Corruption is ingrained in all levels of society, from small vendors to big superstores. All they worry about is putting more money in their pockets by raising rates. And, strangely, it is they who are offended when they are recognized.

It’s worth noting that the same superstore has previously been chastised for a variety of reasons. Imtiaz Supermarket had recently been fined by the inspection team for the store’s poor hygienic condition and for selling expired goods and meat. The market was indeed at the center of attention in 2018 for selling expired and counterfeit goods. Last year, regulators shut down many Imtiaz Super Market locations around the country for violating COVID-19 SOPs. Also, it doesn’t create the impression that the situation will change much in the coming years without any strict inspections of products every month.

Procedure for Filing a Consumer Complaint before Consumer Courts:

If you encounter any fraud as mentioned above, then file a complaint with their market and, if they do not respond, then lodge a complaint in consumer court. One might be thinking, what is the procedure for filing a complaint or claim in order to obtain relief or compensation? According to the Consumer Rights Commission of Pakistan (CRCP), a consumer may file a case or claim before the Consumer Court, which is headed by the District and Additional District Session Judge.

Steps for Filing a Consumer Complaint:

1. Legal Notice to Service Provider for 15 Days:
a. Legal notice should be served to the manufacturers/sellers of the product(s) as well as to the service provider about the defective product.
b. There is a 30-day filing deadline (from the emergence of a cause of action) in the consumer court.
c. Serving a 15-day legal notice is a prerequisite for filing a claim in Consumer Court.
2. Complaint from a Consumer.

If the matter is not resolved through legal notice, then the consumer may file a case or claim on plain paper for a redress of his/her grievance before the Consumer Court within the subsequent fifteen days.

It is important to note that there is no court fee for filing a claim in Consumer Court. It’s totally free of charge[3]. The best part is that no lawyer is required to overcome the fraud, meaning thereby, you can file a complaint yourself on plain paper to the service provider.

To sum up, online deception and claims of defective products can be controlled by spreading awareness about consumer rights and the legal remedies provided by law to citizens. In this way, strict regulations will be put into place against fraud, which will help decrease consumer fraud in our country and, ultimately, provide protection to consumer rights.

References:

[1] Zehra Batool. April 13, 2021. https://www.parhlo.com/imtiaz-supermarket-under-trouble-once-again/

[2] THE SINDH CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT, 2014. http://www.pas.gov.pk/uploads/acts/

[3] Guidelines for Consumers, https://pcpc.punjab.gov.pk/faq

The writers are first-year law students at ZFL.

Email: [email protected] and [email protected]

Published in ZU-BLAWGS, January 9th, 2022

 

Free and Fair Plebiscite in Kashmir

                     Babar Azam

Human rights are the fundamental rights of every individual, which ensure that a person is able to live a full life. Human rights are protected nationally and internationally by certain institutions. In Pakistan, fundamental rights are protected by the courts, especially the Supreme. Internationally, human rights are protected by the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC). Furthermore, under Article 184 (3) of the Constitution of Pakistan, the Supreme Court can be petitioned for any violation of fundamental rights. If a violation occurs, the Supreme Court is capable of taking stern action in order to provide a remedy and prevent further such violations of human rights in Pakistan.

Historically, the Kashmir crisis began in 1846 under the regime of the Hindu ruler, Gulab Singh. 70% of the population of Kashmir were Muslims, so this was always likely to cause problems. Gulab Singh denied rights to the Muslim majority, resulting in distrust between the population and their ruler. Things have only gotten worse over the years. The major denial of human rights and the right of self-determination occurred when Article 370 of the Indian Constitution was used to alter the demography and governance of the region. Kashmir is rich in water resources that originate from mountain glaciers. Approximately 35% of the region is governed by Pakistan, 55% by India, and the rest of the area is Chinese territory. Moreover, three wars have been fought between India and Pakistan over Kashmir territory.

“When partition occurred, the British left the people to decide either to live in India or Pakistan according to their religion, culture, and social values. This mass migration itself involved many violations of human rights.“

In 2019, the Indian government revoked Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, allowing the Indian-administrated part of Kashmir to make its own laws in all matters except finance, defence, foreign affairs, and communications. Furthermore, it established a separate constitution, a separate flag, and denied property rights in the region to outsiders. This means the residents of the state live under different laws from the rest of the country in matters such as property ownership and citizenship. Moreover, the Indian government also revoked Article 35A of the Constitution of India, which ultimately lifted the prohibition on outsiders from permanently settling, buying land, holding local government jobs, or attaining educational scholarships in the region of Kashmir. The revocation of these two articles from the Kashmir region is a clear violation of human rights. The Indian government is encouraging Indians to settle there to reduce the Muslim overall majority.

This article concludes by reiterate some possible solutions. In 1948, UN Resolution 47 proposed a peaceful restoration process in which both the military forces of Pakistan and India were commanded to withdraw and the population was given the choice of joining either India or Pakistan through a free and fair plebiscite. This would almost certainly result in their vote to join Pakistan. The other option for Kashmir is to become independent. However, this is neither economically nor politically realistic.

The author is of the opinion that the plebiscite option is the only one that offers a solution to the human rights issues of Kashmir.

The writer is a Third-Year Law Student at ZFL

Email: [email protected]

Published in ZU-BLAWGS, November 20th, 2021

Violation of Minority Rights

Over the past century, there has been a dramatic increase in the victimization of minorities. Though minority rights have been recognized internationally, such as in the United Nations Minority Declaration, they have also been nationally acknowledged in countries like France, India, Pakistan, etc. The implementation of these rights is still a question mark in these countries. It is apparent that we can not ensure all the rights of minorities. However, we can at least eradicate the oppression, injustice, and violence against them.

“Human Rights are not a privilege considered by the government. They are every human being’s entitlement by virtue of his humanity.”

-Mother Teresa

Normally, everybody, regardless of majority or minority group, has inherent rights because nobody is born a slave to others. Everyone is born free and leaves this world alone. Even animals are not the property of humans. Therefore, how can a human suppress another human when they are all genetically identical? The difference is not in the biological makeup of humans but in their sociological makeup. The structure of society is based on heterogeneity due to the diversity of culture, religion, and different opinions, which definitely leads to chaotic circumstances due to anarchy and self-interest (realistic perspective), because materials are limited and needs are unlimited, and the people who are in the majority are likely to have an advantage because they are in the majority. 

Francesco Capotorti rightly defined the minorities as “A group numerically inferior to the rest of the population of a state, in a non-dominant population”-Article 27 ICCDR (1979). Accordingly, minority rights do not disregard the rights of other individuals, but rather protect them from subjugation, (in the Turkish Constitution, which protects minorities) and guarantee tranquility within the state. This approach can be known as “positive discrimination.” Because “all people are equal in dignity and rights” UDHR Article 1.

Most arguably, the issue with minority rights is that even after being universally recognized, minorities are still suppressed. For instance, the South Sudan Civil War, which broke out right after two years of independence, was provoked by the ethnicity of minorities. Moreover, ethnic issues towards minorities were a major reason for the independence of East Timor from Indonesia. Currently, in America, the ineffectiveness of government led to the infringement of black people’s rights (George Floyd). The union of states got disturbed, and again, minorities were oppressed, due to anarchical order, which is still present because of anomie or normless society, ( Emile Durkheim).

Minorities do not just refer to religious minorities. However, people are also discriminated against due to their disability or sexual orientation, such as gay men, lesbians, transgender people, etc.

In Pakistan, people with physical disabilities have been victimized and neglected for decades. It was a time when transgender people were not entitled to have a NADRA card, which means they were not recognized as Pakistani citizens. Despite the existence of the Convention on the rights of Persons with Disabilities, this issue is still unresolved completely in our society. As far as the religious minorities are concerned, the 2nd amendment[1], has not only declared Ahmadis as non-Muslims, but also prohibited them from acting like a Muslim. For this, there is punishment for them as per PPC 298[2], which is again a discrimination and violation of their right to profess religion (Article 20 of the Constitution of Pakistan). Recently, on the 3rd of January 2021, 11 people of Hazara Minority Community were killed, and was also condemned by Imran Khan as inhumane act of terrorism.[3] 

It is important to not that not only Constitution but also the state religion Islam indicates about equality (Article 25) and this statement below from the Last Sermon of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) clearly neglects discrimination, either majority or minority.

“All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over black nor a black has any superiority over white except by piety (taqwa) and good action.”

-Last Sermon of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)

However, violations of minority rights (ethnicity) are constantly witnessed in Indian Occupied Kashmir, where India has become a colonizer rather than an administrator. Interestingly, countries with a strong economy are actually violating international law and subjugating their minorities, and no one seems to mind since, in the end, self-interest is paramount. It is a fact that violation of minority rights is violation of humanity, because every human right is concerned with minority rights. When a human being is oppressed, it diminished all rights (Holocaust). For instance, in the SAS v France case, where a claim was filed based on a “ban on face covering”, under Article 8 (private life), 9 (religion, thought, conscience), 10 (expression), and 14 (discrimination). However, France used the “living together” argument in its defense. It could be argued that face covering is not a hindrance to living together. Nevertheless, it upholds ethnocentrism, which ultimately leads to the diminishing of cultures in the end. The same oppression of face covering was brought by Berlin and Austria, and even at present time, the Swiss ban on face covering (March-2021). Similarly, the Swiss Minatare banned constructing mosques with minarets in 2009. This idea affects minorities’ identity and creates a sense of xenocentrism in the new generation of minorities.

This classification also generates social stratification, and neglects cultural relativism. It could be argued here that the concept of freewill is only an illusion. Because this right has  thousands of other rights. Apart from that, LGBT rights around the world and international recognition of minority rights are some positive examples of  how minorities are not always oppressed.

The possible solution to this issue is to recognize the minority not only as a minority, but as human beings, because before the minority, they are human and are entitled to human rights. There is domestic protection for HR (Article 25, 33 in Pakistan or the Turkish Constitution), as well as International Protection, International Human Rights Law, International Criminal Law, insurance of peace and stability and cultural heritage. Similarly, the right to self-determination belongs to indigenous peoples (UN declaration). Accordingly, Article 1-2 UDHR, the UN Declarations on Minority Rights, the Human Council, and the ICJ, these are all solutions for minority protection which have been developed with an incremental approach.

In conclusion, minorities still face discrimination, despite the fact that their rights are recognized domestically and internationally. The root cause of this issue is anarchical order, where ruthless power seeking is common, because of self-interest (Machiavelli- realistic perspective). No doubt, no society is perfect, however, people surrender their freedom to the government, so that the government ensures peace in the country, and to avoid sectarian conflicts. Preserving human rights for minorities is not only for them but also for a peaceful world too. Everyone wants to have power and to be dominated over others. In this chaotic situation, it’s the prime responsibility of the state to balance its local masses for the tranquility of the state and its citizens, because Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

References:

[1] The Second Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan, http://www.pakistani.org/pakistan/constitution/amendments/2amendment.html , <accessed on May 05,2021>

[2] Pakistan Penal Code, Section 298, http://www.pakistani.org/pakistan/legislation/1860/actXLVof1860.html <accessed on May 19,2021>

[3] DW News, Pakistan: Gunmen kill 11 minority Hazara coal miners in Baluchistan, https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.dw.com/en/pakistan-gunmen-kill-11-minority-hazara-coal-miners-in-baluchistan/a-56119522  <accessed on May 20, 2021>

The writer is a Third-Year law student at ZFL

Email: [email protected]

Published in ZU-BLAWGS, October 4, 2021

South Asia can achieve peace and stability

                                                                                     Zaibunnisa Akram

This article intends to explore the solutions for peace and stability for post-colonial South Asia which is located in the southern region of Asia, consisting of eight different countries, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. South Asia today is facing numerous challenges that reduce the growth of these countries that are already in deep water. If we talk about India before the decline of the Mughal Empire, it was contributing 42% to the world’s GDP, but when Britishers left, it decreased to 3%, which was a big drawback. Britishers weakened the GDP to the point where it can never be revived. The World Bank states that South Asia is the world’s least integrated region today; however, South Asia can achieve peace and stability by integrating the part as a powerful block and ending all the borderless problems. This article will discuss South Asia’s challenges and crisis and how to bring an end to these problems, which mainly depends on the collective effort of these countries by reviving SAARC and working together to achieve mutual gains.

South Asia can achieve peace and stability by integrating the region as a powerful block and ending all the borderless problems. If we see the roots back to historic South Asia, a hub of trade, everyone wanted to come and invest in this land of opportunity, such as the Kushans. Aryans, Greek Bactrians, Alexander, and the great Britishers played the leading part in deteriorating south Asia by exploiting South Asia’s rich resources and military.  After world war II, When Britishers broke their promises of giving Self government to Indians and instead imposed brutal laws, it leads to the rise of nationalism that can be observed as regional disintegration and when the Britishers were bankrupt and could not afford to stay long in India, they decided to do a hurried partition that was also poorly practised. They left India with various unsolved problems, including Water distribution, transfer of power, and funds distribution, even thousands of refugees while crossing boundaries died at the border of Pakistan; if the partition would have been performed correctly and divided everything equally between the two nuclear states, today Pakistan and India would not have been at loggers head fighting over Kashmir’s issue that is the main issue connects to all problems in countries of south Asia. It is the primary issue that holds the key to stability in South Asia that doesn’t allow Pakistan and India to sit together on the same table. Even the UN Tried to bury the hatchet of these two states and maintain peace but failed to do so.

Kashmir’s issue is the main issue connects to all problems in countries of south Asia that doesn’t allow Pakistan and India to sit together on the same table. Even the UN Tried to bury the hatchet of these two states and maintain peace but failed to do so.

Today, South Asia is facing many problems, including borderless challenges that need to be solved before it ultimately erodes the countries of South Asia. Issues like poverty disturb the whole system by inducing political and economic turmoil as poverty, and the economy go hand in hand. If we discuss South Asia’s trade potential, currently it is around 67 billion, almost three times the current rate of about 23 billion.[1] If we pay proper attention to our education system to educate the public that can raise employment rates, it will curtail poverty in South Asia and increase the GDP, which can then be spent appropriately on the resources. if we talk about pandemic Coronavirus it is important to shut down everything and impose stringent lockdown. However, South Asian countries are not able to afford this as if they would impose lockdown people will die because of the food scarcity as shutting down will snatch more people’s income. Daily wage workers are affected more. They will not be able to buy even the basic necessities of life; it will just make people’s lives more miserable in this depressing time of pandemic.

Economic Turmoil is another big issue, The WHO has officially started that South Asia has now gone into a global recession. Coronavirus has not just affected South Asia but the whole world all the developed countries like the UK’s and America’s economy is affected but due to south Asia being poorer regions have difficulties encountering problems like coronavirus. Shutting down the business has lessened the economy of the countries which were already dwindling. WHO stated that south Asia will suffer the most during these borderless problems because of its economic instability.

In South Asia, Climate change is another big borderless issue as it is the third most climate stressed region and a water-stressed region. If we pay attention specifically to Pakistan, the UN said if there is no action taken in 2025, Pakistan will dry up. Climate change is essential to control. The government of Pakistan should introduce a law that should lower the duty tax to import electric vehicles abroad and, if manufactured locally, should reduce taxes that will eventually lower the prices of electric vehicles, that will attract buyers in south Asia to buy these vehicles, and overtime majority of the vehicles that are being run on fuel will be replaced with the electric vehicle, this change will help Pakistan reduce the consumption of fuel, with less consumption of the energy the air pollution will decrease drastically and also will help Pakistan economically as the nation will need less energy then they will buy less fuel. Moreover, to tackle water problems, South Asia should store and save the water and aware the people to less consume the water.

According to the constructive debate, we can revive the position of these developing countries back into the way it was seen as a bright land of opportunity. Putting an end to all these problems in south Asia can change the situation and can bring peace. Coronavirus is a wake-up call for the governments—a high alert for regional cooperation.

To bring peace and stability in South Asia, This is the best time for regional collaboration by reviving South Asia Association Regional Cooperation (SAARC) that has been on a ventilator for many years.

South Asian countries should be reunited for mutual gains and work together for the greater good. Establishing economic dependency will also improve the relations of these countries and will make them able to stand on their actual trade potential. Countries like Pakistan and India are agricultural countries and rich in resources; thus, if they all are reunited for a collective interest, these countries can bring stability and thrive.

Moreover, the relationship between Pakistan and India can be solved by putting an end to the Kashmir issue, the bone of concession, which leads to many other problems. Constructivism debate states that if the wall of Berlin can fall, then the Kashmir issue can also be solved. The only good thing in this dark time of pandemic is a rebirth of SAARC; it has been revived because of the coronavirus where now all the south Asia countries are talking about confirmed cases and also helping each other by providing funds under SAARC CORONA EMERGENCY FUND hence, it can make these countries realise that short term collaboration can bring long term benefits. Rich countries like the Maldives, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka can help developing countries like Pakistan, India and can integrate South Asia.

According to the liberalism debate, refusal of power, politics is the only possible solution for international relations. Therefore if India stops trying to be a superpower country by dominating other countries in South Asia, it can then improve ties. If they all look for shared growth, thinking about their state and their regional states can lead to Stability by taking little steps that can bring significant differences. Let’s not forget that there was a time when South Asia was the hub of trade, and everyone wanted to come to South Asia.

Suppose these countries are united again and improve relations by solving problems like the Kashmir issue that is a territorial issue to today’s date.

For that reason, both countries, India and Pakistan spend a significant part of their budget on funding their defences to get stronger and stronger each day that causes significant damage to the nation within itself and in the region, continually disturbing the peace. If this problem is solved, it will be possible for countries to pay attention to other problems of the states except for the defence alone.

Express Tribune article, Facing pandemics in today’s world by Eric Shazar[2] also suggests that the future of global security lies in joint solutions. Borders should be forgotten to fight against disease, and during this pandemic, the entire globe needs to cooperate. For a secure future, combined solutions should be found. Pandemics and problems like it can be dealt with by sharing the information around the globe, and such epidemics occurred in 14th and 21st century as well, even before globalisation, so globalisation is not mainly the reason for the spread; however, organisations like the European Union, WHO and South Asian Association for regional cooperation should function effectively. They are reviving SAARC and regulating it like the EU Organization is the best example of regional cooperation where even passports are not needed to visit the regional country. Reviving SAARC and educating the masses with the current issues and solutions it can bring the differences with this enforcement of fundamental rights proper social order will help to face these challenges and bring peace and stability. In this ever-changing world, the one who can adopt technological progress can only survive. Government should form a perfect union securing the state’s best interest.

References:

[1] Trade (worldbank.org)

[2] Shahzar, Eric. “Facing pandemics in today’s world.” [Karachi], 26 march 2020, https://tribune.com.pk/story/2184140/facing-pandemics-todays-world.

The writer is a Third-Year Law Student at ZFL

Email: [email protected]

Published in ZU-BLAWGS, September 20th, 2021

Urgent Need for Judicial Reforms in Pakistan

well-functioning judiciary is the crucial component of any country that not only enhances its prosperity but also referred to as the backbone of any state. When it comes to the rule of law, the Judiciary plays a crucial role and, of course, without the rule of law, a state cannot exist or function properly. As a citizen of Pakistan, I have witnessed many loopholes in my country’s legal system. In reality, Pakistan’s legal system considered to have three categories: one for the poor and the weak; another, for the non-ruling rich; and a third for the ruling elite. Offenders of the very same crime are treated differently. One gets away with his crime, while the others are sentenced to prison. The rich enjoy power, whereas the poor continually suffer. I believe that the system should be changed. Our courts need reforms. Cases should be heard on merit and should not be decided on the basis of monetary and status value. There must be proper planning of these measures. Legal proceedings cannot be conducted smoothly without proper planning and complete procedural fairness.

I strongly believe that our Judicial System must be reformed because there is a need to ameliorate the old systems and replace them with a modern, efficient, economical, and speedy justice system. The reforms should start with pilot projects for the purpose to make the most out of them. There are many reasons for urgent judicial reforms in Pakistan, but the most pressing issue is that of the long pendency of cases that have not been resolved. According to the Law and Justice Commission in Pakistan, there are fifty thousand cases pending in the Supreme Court, three lakh in the five High Courts, and around twenty lakh in the subordinate courts, and to handle such a huge number of cases, there are only 3,000 judges from the Supreme Court to the Civil Court. According to the World Bank 2018, it takes about 1070 days to settle a commercial case. As compared to other countries such as the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Morocco, Indonesia, the procedures of the courts in Pakistan are complex, lengthy, and expensive.

Justice delayed means justice denied

First and foremost, there is a need for a claim form because Pakistani courts are still following outdated procedures and methods. Applications on simple paper are used in the courts instead of much more modern methods effectively used in other countries. At present, when a lawyers submits an application, it first goes to the registration center, then to the senior civil judge, and finally to a civil judge. Instead of this lengthy process, I believe our courts must adopt or develop an e-system, as well as a centralized system to run efficiently. This is the time that judicial reforms must be implemented to provide a smooth and functioning legal system.

Secondly, there should be a proper schedule, when there is a first hearing in court, the judge must disclose all the dates for the cases to avoid unnecessary delays. If one party wants to extend the time of his/her case, they would pay the cost of delaying and negatively affecting the court’s time and the other party’s lawyer expenses as well. There should be a specific time frame for the settlement of cases. Anyone who seeks to unnecessarily postpone a trial should be penalized with a certain amount of financial cost. This will save the courts valuable time as well and it will prevent people delaying their cases for unreasonable excuses. The courts have have the authority to impose costs under Section 35 and 35A of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, but unfortunately these powers are not being utilized. This process will expedite the system and maximize the effective litigation. Otherwise, the current process will continue to consume plenty of time to resolve disputes, and will continue to oppress the poor directly or indirectly. As a result, we are seriously undermining the rule of law by delaying justice.

Third, there is a lack of citizen assistance committees in Pakistan. For ensuring the provision of legal aid to the poor litigants who cannot afford hefty fees of lawyers, there should be a free judicial assistance service which operates under the supervision of advocates (legal experts). As we know, we, as a society, are mainly comprised of middle-class and lower-middle-class people. Everyone has a right to file a case for the sake of attaining justice and institutions like the Judiciary should not turn them away for financial reasons. People must be treated with respect, and if they have a valid case, they should be assisted in legal matters.

Every year, judges should receive training in which they should learn new laws and how to interpret them. There should be a very strict way of selecting judges. The current statistics confirms that there are more cases filed than cases that are disposed every month and even in this critical situation, there is a lack of proper planning. We do not have enough appointed judges in the courts to quickly resolve cases which are pending. I believe that there should be separate courts for small cases such as Juvenile Courts, where decisions can be made within one week. Because it often happens even in small cases which do matter, they tend to take too long to be decided. There will be no pending cases as a result of this process, and the vast majority of cases will be resolved. An example of this can be seen in the United Kingdom magistrate courts, where 95% of the cases are resolved. It is important to note that speedy justice will only be available to everyone when there will be specific courts for specific cases and appointment of judges on the basis of their specific fields. For example, criminal cases will proceed in criminal courts where the judges of criminal court must specialize in criminal law.

In Sindh, consumer courts have established, but unfortunately, the judges appointed to the consumer courts are not paying heed to the proceeding consumer cases but are interested in civil cases. As a result, 99 cases are currently pending in Sindh Consumer Courts.

Finally, when it comes to judicial reforms, the response of the Pakistani government towards the judicial reforms has always been reluctant. We need to recognize that to ensure fairness and justice in judicial matters these factors must be taken into consideration by the government of Pakistan. Many people are deprived of justice here and many have lost faith in the justice system, the slow and unfair processes of justice have ruined the lives of countless innocent people. A speedy justice system will not only provide this country’s youth hope and inspiration to work for the country’s progress but also create an effective legal structure for the people.

The writer is a 1st-year law student at ZFL.

[email protected]

 Published in ZU-BLAWGS, September 10, 2021

 

How are Law and Politics interconnected?

s hunter-gatherers begin to formalize in order to hunt together, for that single purpose aroused many ideas, as every human values what he thinks or what he wishes. The moment his thought process acknowledges that his perspective should be implemented, this is the standpoint where politics begin. Finding a middle ground or ensuring that no one is neither happy nor sad, attaining everyone’s satisfaction is politics. Politics in simple words is the tussle for power, the process to gain power, and is the fundamental principle to remain in power. In theoretical words, politics is termed as activities related to the governance and management of administrative, social, and economic affairs of a polity or state. Politics is not bound to a single meaning and does not aim at one specific purpose. According to many political thinkers, politics is a vast and complex field of study. The concept of politics is as old as mankind. Adding to the argument that politics revolves around governing or imposing one’s own idea or belief which is in fact a part of human nature.

Law, on the other hand, is a set of some codified and un-codified principles or rules which instruct how a city, community, state, or organization should be governed. The concept of law entails how disputes will be resolved, who will decide, and on what merits decisions will be made. According to Thomas Hobbes’s social contract theory, the law is a mutually understood and proposed policy in a form of an agreement between people and the sovereign, which in democratic countries is the state. However, in autocratic societies, the ruler is believed to be sovereign as a French king Louis 14 (1638-1715) stated: “L’etat, c’est moi”: I am the state.

To put it simply, the law is a contract between the state and its citizen in which people cede their sovereignty to the state for their security and welfare. Some political scientists suggest that the social contract is the agreement between people living in a polity that entails how they are going to interact together, formulate relations and solve disputes, relating these words with the situation of the hunter-gatherers, formalizing to hunt together they believed that there should be some ascertained values, rules and regulations in accordance to which they may structure their lives.

Law and politics both are immensely interconnected with each other as politics is the governance and management of a state whereas, the law is a procedure that determines how that state or a collection of states would be governed.

Politics is a necessity for law making and its implementation. This thought provokes how are laws made. As per Jean Jacques Rousseau, sovereignty lies with the general will expressed by the people, hence the law is a product of collective, general, and sovereign will expressed by the people living in a state. Politics and law both are interdependent disciplines. In democratic societies, laws are made by the people who are elected from respective constituencies across the state. People foster their confidence in their elected representatives so that they may present their ideas, mandates, and ideologies at the national level. The laws are made in accordance with the will of the people and it is suggested in democratic societies that the will of the people prevails over everything.

In the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, laws are enacted through a parliamentary process that requires a 2/3 majority of members of the national assembly to pass a bill into law. It is claimed that politics do affect the law through the means of law-making. In parliament, some bills may not be able to gain a 2/3 majority for legislation, hence the democratic principle of unanimity must be preserved. The ruling party is required to consult with others parties in order to pass legislation. Considering the current cabinet of the ruling party, it consists of 18 special assistants, 4 advisors, 4 state ministers, and 28 federal ministers. Although having representation from all provinces is beneficial to democracy, it also demonstrates that the government is bound by politics while making laws.

Moreover, a bounded government is often termed good because it hinders elective dictatorship, respects the rule of law as parliamentary sovereignty, and is believed by political thinkers as being inherently capable of undermining rule of law. The tussle between rule of law and parliamentary sovereignty is an inevitable aspect of the legal and political system of a state. Parliamentary sovereignty argues that parliament is sovereign it can make or amend any law whether retrospective or not and can legislate ultra vires to its authority or jurisdiction, whereas, the rule of law suggests no retrospective laws should be made, there should be equal accountability and fundamental rights should be protected. There are possibilities that parliament may pass a retrospective law or laws that may be a violation of human rights. Politics swoops in between as an opposition before the judiciary to stop the parliament from doing so. The opposition parties presented in parliament are the first form of informal check on the government actions, however, the government does have to account for its actions in parliament as it’s a part of the democratic process but the government may not amend or revise any law proposed by the opposition.

After the informal checks, the formal checking mechanism that checks on the actions of the executive primarily the parliament is the judiciary. The judiciary ensures that any act of parliament will not go against the constitution. In 2019, the Army Chief was given a tenure extension by the Prime Minister however, judiciary intervened as it deemed that the extension did not fall under the scope of referenced law so the judiciary provided the government with an ultimatum of 6 months to legislate those laws properly. In this respect, an amendment took place in the Army Act ,1952 that is regarded as Army Act 2020. It appeared that for that legislation some political motives did surface as the amendment was supported by all major political parties, at the same time, was also denounced by some.

Law is used for political purposes at times in politics and comes in between legislative motives. Under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution of Pakistan, the Prime Minister should be truthful and trustworthy, these are the Islamic provisions of the constitution, they were supposedly introduced by a dictator but during the drafting of 18TH Amendment, the government at the time wished for its removal. This was opposed by the sitting opposition of that time and in the end that particular law caused the removal and disqualification of a prime minister. That particular law has created political chaos in the state but that decision did uphold the Rule of Law.

There are moments where the rule of law wins and sometimes it is the politics that stand successful. Article 58(2)(b) of the Constitution was revoked as it provided the President with an arbitrary power to dismiss the elected government. The provision was revoked by the 18th amendment of the Constitution. This could be regarded as a political win, as politics did thrive and assembles became more secure to complete their tenure.

Law always needs political support to prevail. Similarly, political actions correspondingly need laws to be legitimate in authority. Politics is considered more flexible whereas the law is seen to be rigid because politics varies from person to person, ideology to ideology. However, the law is firm and same for everyone. It is important to note that both disciplines are different from each other, since change is easy in politics, but the law is the product of a sovereign and so it will always be very challenging to change. Neither politics nor law can prevail over politics. However, there are junctions where one is to be upheld and the other is destined to be undermined in order to keep society evolving.

The writer is a second-year law student at ZFL.

Twitter: @jamali_aizaz999

 Published in ZU-BLAWGS, September 2nd, 2021

Role of Women in Pakistani Society

                                                                                                  Rizwan Mehmood

The attitude towards the value and position of women in history has different aspects to it. In the era before Islam, female infanticide was practiced, as a part of their spiritual, social and economic beliefs on the role of women. However, once Islam was introduced, things took a turn for the better. The Holy Prophet, Hazrat Muhammad (P.B.U.H) with respect to woman said, “Women are like candles and lights in the house”. There are many verses of the Holy Quran and multiple Ahadith which shows the role and rights of women in society.

THE REALITY

According to the population census of Pakistan in 2017, the female population was 101,314,780: about half of the whole population. In rural regions, the education ratio of women is 41.75 %. In agriculture and livestock, the ratio of women is 26.3%, and in other enterprises it is around 17 %. It means women make up 43% of the total rural workforce. In our current rural society, which is based upon patriarchal norms and values, women have not been given due importance as it is a male predominant society, where women are considered as slaves and servants, whose only duties are to serve their families, rear children, take care of household chores, and help farm in the fields. The level of discrimination towards women in rural societies is such that the birth of a baby girl is thought to be a grave sin and her demise is considered a release from an unwanted burden. Infanticide and female infant trafficking were common in rural societies 60 to 70 years back, but now these cruel practices are not observed as extensively as before.

There is discrimination in health care, where a boy’s illness is taken more seriously with lot of care and parents directly rush to the doctor, while there is unwillingness to take a girl to the hospital and spend money on her. The death of a girl is not considered an issue, and in some areas of Tharparkar district, there is no concept of sympathy for a woman.

The discrimination in love and care given, starts before birth, where everybody prays for a son. Conversely the birth of a baby boy is always celebrated with food and festivities.

All these discriminations are because of negative bias that girls are considered as “Paraya Dhann” (a person or body which is not yours), and men view them as subordinates, rather than competition. Furthermore, women are not allowed a share in inheritance, along with no role in decision making. Their wills and wishes are not concerned even for their choice of spouse, which is a decision left up to the father or brother Child marriage in rural societies are mutual in the ages between 12 to 15 years. Most of the couples have never even seen each other before the day of the wedding. Early weddings have caused difficulties, like abortion, babies with low birth weight and health complications for the women after delivery. Additionally, some young girls are also married off to men thrice their age, or even older.

Most importantly, physical violence towards women in rural societies is very common and is not a matter of concern for the members of the said society. Male members even slaughter the women blaming her as “Kari” (sexually assaulted). These were the situations, in which rural women lived. If we look into the previous 30 to 40 years, the condition of women in a rural society was very wretched and miserable, as compared to the current scenario. Communication networks in rural areas enhanced remarkably, and the widespread use of electricity and electric equipment has made the lives of these women much easier.

For example, 40 years ago, a woman would have to grind millet to make flour for hours every day and fetch water from far away, but now both tasks are replaced with water pipelines, pumps, and ground flour being available in any shop. Health and education amenities for a rural woman seemed like a farfetched idea but nowadays these facilities are available, to a certain extent. Electronics and social media are playing a significant role in awareness of rural women, which promises a brighter socio-economic condition in the future. There is still a lot to do in this regard, and more efforts and research is needed. Several NGOs, donors, and government departments have launched food fortification programs and are running awareness drives to make rural women recognize the importance of a balanced diet.

STATUS IN ISLAM

When we compare the pre-Islamic and post-Islamic socio-political status of ladies, a slow ascent in their position can be plainly noticed. Islam as a religion has given ladies a wealth of status and occasions to turn into a significant piece of the overall population. Islam gives women fundamental and legitimate rights, and enshrines their right to manage their own property, household, and source of income. In Islam, a lady is legitimately autonomous and her commitments are liberated from her father, spouse or sibling.

STATUS IN PAKISTAN

Pakistan is an Islamic state, and every law, rule, and guideline in the nation is situated towards Islamic law.  In the Constitution of Pakistan, it is explicitly stated that there will be no discrimination on the basis of gender. There are legal measures to guarantee that women take part in all circles of public life. Yet there exist customs and conventions which are wholly against Islamic law, and still openly practiced. The social models of a provincial society don’t permit ladies to make the most of their lawful and strict rights secured by law and ensured by Islam, and this is due to the persisting customs and social standards. The presence of a populist structure, for example, Jirga (gatherings) is by and large not interested in ladies and their grumblings. The dread factor additionally keeps ladies from reporting their advantages. This equal general set of laws unlawfully forces sanctions on the individuals who guarantee their individual rights against principles suggested by the clan or network. Pakistan has passed some excellent laws to ensure women’s privileges and guard them.

Similarly, at the state level, the eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution (2010) acquired more noticeable autonomy zones on women’s issues. This area of law-making is also affected by society: there remains the issue of strategy, execution, and rule of law. The barrier to legislation for women’s issues is precedent on multiple fronts, and ingrained in a lot of view-points, wherein the fundamental ground norm of Islam is ignored on purpose or by accident, in concern to these issues. The earliest legal framework in Pakistan set the tone of harshness towards ladies. The famous saying of such a framework, “Zan, Zar, Zameen” (women, money, and property) is a culmination of the total disregard and malice towards women in our society. These terms are utilized as an instrument to censor women for conduct deemed inappropriate by a man, thus, if a woman’s conduct is seen as a threat by a man, it justifies to them, the abuse, sexual assault, and honour killings.

Women sometimes face predominant social subtleties of contempt under strict attire as a remnant of the previously mentioned customs. The 2017 yearly report of the National Commission on the Status of Women, Amnesty International, noticed that 8,539 instances of savagery against ladies, including 1,575 homicides, 827 assaults, 610 occurrences of aggressive behavior at home, 705 honor killings and 44 corrosive assaults have been accounted for affirmed.

FORCED MARRIAGES

There is no place for marriage by force in Islam. Under Islamic law, women cannot be forced to marry anyone without permission. Ahadith also state that a woman’s consent is required for marriage and that her parents or others cannot force her to marry someone she does not want to marry. However, in rural societies it is very common that parents do not ask the girl regarding her marriage. In one instance, a father from the Tharparkar neighborhood proudly told me that if he were to marry his daughter off to a dog, she shouldn’t say a word.

 BRIDES ‘FOR SALE’

In some provincial regions, young girls are sold as ‘brides’. The young girl is offered to the most elevated bidder paying little mind to her age. The consideration of women as property is reflected in the manner by which society keeps on discarding her body. This is the reason it is given as khoon-baha, as compensation for killing a member of another family. This give-and-take tendency is another marriage trade where a man can exchange his wife for a little girl, or sister. This is a matter that persists in most provincial regions of Sindh.

HAQ BAKSHISH

To wed the Quran or Haq Bakshish signifies “prohibit the option to wed”. It is another non-Islamic practice. Under Pakistani law, this custom is punishable by up to seven years in jail. In a few cases that came to light, some young girls were forced to be ‘married’ to the Quran for the remainder of their lives. Marriage with the Quran is a practice which compels women to go through their time on earth remaining abstinent and not have the option to wed a man. In this manner, the perpetrators either acquire property, or serve to secure assets for their line of descendants. In some ‘Darghas’ (holy hallowed places) and ‘friend families’ (crown families) where a son/man isn’t available, the young girls are wedded to the Quran to be called ‘Ghadi Nasheen’ or crown ruler.

The role of women in rural communities has improved somewhat, compared to the last 30 to 40 years. The government is making a lot of efforts in the education sector. In the past, girls’ schools were only in towns, but over the past two decades the government has opened girls’ schools with free books, food and scholarships in every large village and obligated parents to send their daughters to these schools, at least up until secondary education institutes. The government’s second major step towards empowering women is the Prime Minister’s Lady Health Workers Program. The program was launched in 1994 and deserves this acknowledgement. It has been transformed into a ‘channel’ for the operationalization of almost all community health initiatives. This has led to some empowerment of women as lady health workers emerge as leaders in their rural communities and collectively make the society a better place. In summary, discrimination against women has decreased over time through education and awareness. Rural women are finally waking up and understanding their rights and roles in the society.

The writer is a second-year law student at ZFL.

[email protected]

Published in ZU-BLAWGS, August 25th, 2021

DNA Evidence in the Courts

                                                                                                       Tahir Shabbir

OVER the past century, human beings are continuously embarking new path in the science by inventing and formulating new method and technologies, one of the aspect of it was the discovery of DNA and its widespread application in the Courts. However, the acceptance of any technology in the courts all over the world is not easy and straightforward. The leading cases of the judiciary decides the applicability of the new technology in the courtroom which later sets the precedents. Before moving further, we would be looking at the reliability of DNA evidence in the other jurisdictions. In US, the first case where DNA was accepted as an evidence was Andrews v. State of Florida in 1987. In this case, Tommie Lee Andrews was suspected in more than twenty assaults in the area of Orlando. Scientist from Lifecodes Corporation collected the semen from the crime scene and connect it with the DNA of perpetrator. At initial stage he was convicted for rape and assault and gave a sentence of twenty-two years but later when his DNA matched the crime scenes of others previous victims his sentence was increase to one hundred years.

Similarly, in the United Kingdom the first person who was investigated by using DNA evidence was not found guilty but rather an innocent. In the case of Colin Pitchfork, the perpetrator was living in the town Narborough in 1983 where the body of the teenager who was 15 years old found as dead and raped, after 3 years another body of the girl also found as dead and raped. The police had clear indication that both crime had done by the same person. Meanwhile the suspect named as Richard Buckland confessed to the murder of the 2nd victim and insisted that he did not kill the first victim named as Lynda Mann. The police started further investigation by collecting the blood samples of males, living in that town and it was found that the real perpetrator was Pitchfork whose DNA had matched with both the dead bodies thus he was sentenced to 30 years in jail. These both cases set the precedent in the UK and US to use reliability of DNA evidence in the courts.

CASE OF PAKISTAN:

Coming to Pakistan there isn’t any particular statue or act which deals with the applicability of DNA evidence but DNA evidence evaluated by article 59 and 164 of the Qanoon-e-Shahadat order. Article 59 of Qanoon-e-shahadat states as:

“When the Court has to form an opinion upon a point of foreign law, or of science/or art, or as to identity of hand-writing or finger impressions; the opinions upon that point of persons especially skilled in such foreign law science or art, or in questions as to identity of hand-writing or finger impressions-are relevant facts. Such persons are called experts” and Article 164 as “in such cases as the Court may consider appropriate, the Court may allow to be produced any evidence that may have become available because of modern devices or techniques.”

Upon looking at the different cases of Pakistan, courts in the country only accepts the DNA evidence as a corroboratory but not as the primary evidence which means that all the other evidence of the case would be taken into account including DNA and then the court would reach to a conclusion. This is because of the several factors which include the un-professionalism in the conduction of the investigation and medical reports by doctors and police. Because of these factors the courts use the dual methodology as if the DNA reports matches, the prosecution case becomes more effective and strong but if it does not match the prosecution could still rely on the circumstantial evidences. In the case of Zahid and another v. the State (2020 SCMR 590 SC), three accused were brought before the court in the allegation of the rape. The lady doctor found the marks of the violence on the victim’s body. Justice Faez Isa stated that “as regards the absence of DNA reports, this is not sufficient to secure an acquittal because there was substantial corroboratory evidence to secure the convection of the perpetrators beyond the shadow of reasonable doubt.” Similarly, in the case of Haji Ahmed v. the State (1975 SCMR 69) the conviction of the father was sustained by the court in the absence of DNA reports where he molested his own step-daughter.

In Farooq Ahmed v. state (PLD 2020 SC 313) the forensic comparison of the semen recover from the victim clothes and body had not compared with the perpetrator DNA. The court after several hearing concluded as the victim at the time of the incident was 7 to 8 years old and the judge of the trail court before recording her testimony asked several question from the minor girl which indicated that she was mature enough to testify and she was also cross-examined by the counsel for accused as well. Thus the victim alone proved to be a reliable witness and the prosecution proved the case beyond the reasonable doubt without the need of DNA.

However, in the recent case of Ali Haider Alias Papu v. Jameel Hussain and others (PLD 2021 SC 362), Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah sheds light on the significance of the DNA evidence. The fact of the case was that the perpetrator rapped and then murder the eight years old Ramsha Bibi who left her house for the summer tuition. The court relied upon on four main evidences (i) the testimony of the Jabbar Hussain (PW-6) and Tufail Shah (PW-7) who had seen the perpetrator coming out of the place of incident (ii) the extra-judicial confession of the perpetrator who admitted the murder and rape (iii) the statement of Dr. Sunia and the medical evidence including post-mortem report conducted by the lady doctor and (iv) the matching of the vaginal swabs and swabs obtained from the neck of the deceased which matched the DNA of the perpetrator. Justice Shah stated that,

“It might be useful to underline the role of the science, modern forensic techniques and devices under our criminal justice system. For the law to serve people in this technology complex society, courts need to understand and be open to science and its principles, tools and techniques. Legal decision of the courts must fall within the boundaries of the scientific sound knowledge. A judge and more so a trial judge acts as a gatekeeper of the scientific evidences and must therefore enjoy a good sense and understanding of science. As science grows so will the forensic technologies, tools and devices therefore courts must be open to development in forensic science and embrace new techniques and devices to resolve disputes, provided the said techniques and device is well established and widely accepted in the scientific community as credible and reliable.”

To summarize, the importance of DNA has gain importance in the eyes of judges over time. The judges act as a gatekeeper in the acceptance of the DNA reports. The main reason for accepting the DNA reports along with the other circumstantial evidence is because of the poor management in terms of collecting and preservation of DNA by the Police and health department. Currently, only the National Forensic science agency and Panjab Forensic science agency are working satisfactorily. In Sindh, the DNA testing facility is only available in Jamshoro and work has started on DNA testing in Karachi University as well by the Sindh government. In Baluchistan, no single laboratory is present yet to test the DNA reports although for the establishment of it the act was passed in 2015 in the Baluchistan assembly, still no further worked has been done. Based on the judges’ decisions, we can assume that in upcoming years, the Superior judiciary will begin to employ DNA as primary evidence in rape and murder cases.

The writer is a third-year law student at ZFL.

[email protected]

Published in ZU-BLAWGS, August 10th, 2021

Personal Data Protection

                                                                                                     Areeba Qureshi

With modernization, the world and its people have evolved over time. It has been centuries since people got their identities, they have evolved and formed societies during this period. This advent has brought a lot of prosperity, but it also led to substantial danger, and complications for each individual. Therefore, laws were made to keep everything within the boundary, and hence every law has its importance. A government is responsible for each individual’s security and privacy. Therefore, it becomes essential for the higher authorities to secure the personal data of the citizens and not expose them to any sort of danger. This focuses on personal data as well because each individual holds confidential data that they do not reveal for their own security reasons, and leaking or using it unlawfully compromises personal information, which is undoubtfully a breach of fundamental rights.

As per General Data Protection Regulation, data protection is protecting almost all kinds of data of the citizens. However, what everyone tends to ignore is personal data protection which is a basic necessity of everyone as it lies within their basic fundamental rights i.e. rights to security Article 9 and privacy Article 14(1).

Modern problems require modern solutions, and in a world of digital media, and a lot of paperwork, your personal information matters a lot as you would never want your confidential data being sold to strangers that may harm you in the future.

Personal data in terms of General Protection Regulation of UK defines it as information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person; an identifiable natural person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly[1]. This includes personal information e.g., name, identification numbers, locations, the city he may be residing, addresses, and social links; whereas, sensitive data may include a person’s biographical data, his character traits, behavior, medical records, family belonging, birthplace, educational history, political-religious views, and background, etc. Without one’s consent or in other exceptions (for state’s security) the information is not allowed to be leaked by any third party as it is compromising one’s security and privacy, exposing them to further risks, and misfortunes.

Similarly, Pakistan is yet to pass the Law on Personal Data Protection as the Bill itself has been amended twice already. Not to forget, Pakistan does have Cyber Crime laws, however, these laws do not protect a person’s personal data which without consent should not be disclosed, kept in records, or shared with third parties.

Keeping in view what personal data is, we can identify one of the root causes of hideous crimes in the state for example abductions, harassments (online/direct), mass killings, and other crimes such as frauds, thefts on daily basis. It is no doubt that these crimes may include other factors, however, once a person’s personal information is leaked through a third party that is when the problems arise, and hence it is clearly a breach of Human Rights.

When a person’s data is compromised, it not only makes them lose their privacy but exposes them to vulnerable situations and greater risks they might never want to witness. They may face life-threatening situations unknowingly. When such an act is committed it is undoubtfully accepted by the higher authorities that raises a question; if the stakeholders matter more than the safety of a citizen? 

Furthermore, it is commonly witnessed how often personal data of pupil has been sold in markets, or been sold to other agencies without the person’s consent and this is why many get in the traps of frauds, many receives messages from spam accounts, many are threatened-blackmailed. An example can be taken into account, bank details of any person being shared by a third party may cause the individual’s security to be compromised and further cyber-crimes. This may lead to huge losses and he might end up losing millions or have massive blow out on his life and business. This is all connected however easily overlooked as it’s not much talked about.

The scenarios mentioned above can easily be backed by recent events. Firstly, NADRA[2] exposed its public information, database on public websites giving a free hand to criminals to take action without any hurdle. This was however diverted by calling it off a cyber-crime, that systems were ‘hacked’, despite the fact that personal data is sold for cash around the world, and the world itself has made certain laws to protect its citizens. Furthermore, there has been a data breach in a well-known service app that everyone uses it almost daily, however, it went un-noticed but if you dig deep inside to what it actually was then the personal data of drivers and the customers was leaked, it was approximately 14 million users. This is very dangerous in terms of every citizen’s data being compromised like that. This exposes them to threats, crimes, and abductions. A similar incident occurred when Dubai based information security company Rewterz[3] claimed the private data of 115 million Pakistani mobile users were up for sale on the dark web with a price tag of $2.1 million. And later this news authenticity was approved by Chairman PTA Major General (R) Amir Azeem Bajwa who told Arab News that approximately the data of 115 million Pakistani users was breached and that they had already contacted the mobile network agencies.

Another case that did not raise many concerns was recently when a well-known energy company did not pay its ransoms and hence it’s online data of people and billing was compromised. Not to forget that this energy company has access to every person’s personal data and that is what was compromised here and was threatened to be sold at Dark Web if they did not pay the ransom. The ransom was to be paid to the Netwalker gang. This may include cyber-crime however the cybercrime law itself does not have any kind of protection for personal data. The personal data hence compromised security of millions of Pakistanis here exposing them to further crimes and online threats. The energy company however refused to accept the claim that personal data was compromised for ransom, this further raises more questions if these powerful agencies are actually selling citizens personal data to such gangs or agencies, and exposing them to life-threatening situations?

This is unfortunately the truth that certain agencies, firms do sell the personal data of their client for some rupees. Others may purchase for e-commerce or to threaten one’s life. This however is clearly the breach of individuals’ rights since they did not ask for consent and this is what other countries have focused on and made laws to protect the personal data. This can be seen in the world’s famous law GDPR, the General Data Protection Regulation where agencies cannot compromise the data of their clients with third parties, and they have to register themselves in the Data commissioner office if they hold any kind of personal data of UK citizens. If any company is handling personal Data but fails to register with GDPR and fails with compliance then it may be charged up to $23.5 million. Implementation of GDPR[4] took a lot of effort to make it a proper law and despite the disadvantages, it did cost a lot and took a lot of time however in the end the data breaches did decline.

At present, Pakistan has the Data Protection Bill 2020[5], which focuses on every aspect of how personal data can be protected in Pakistan. However, here are a few clauses that the bill still needs to add; transparency and informed consent, purpose, and storage limitation (necessity), and data minimization (proportionality). These are a few crucial salient features of every personal data protection law of the globe. Therefore, Pakistan should also focus on these clauses to be added to the Bill to secure one’s personal data in a better way. It is important to provide every citizen with their rights just like Bruce Schneier said, “Privacy is an inherent human right and a requirement for maintaining the human condition with dignity and respect.”                                                                                                

References

[1] General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) – Official Legal Text https://gdpr-info.eu/

[2]115 Million Pakistani Mobile Users Data Go on Sale on Dark Web | Rewterz https://www.rewterz.com/data-leakage/115-million-pakistani-mobile-users-data-go-on-sale-on-dark-web

[3]Data of 115m Pakistani mobile phone users was not leaked on Nadra’s part, SHC told https://www.dawn.com/news/1597963

[4] Art. 83 GDPR – General conditions for imposing administrative fines | General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) https://gdpr-info.eu/art-83-gdpr/

[5]oitt.gov.pk https://moitt.gov.pk/SiteImage/Downloads/Personal%20Data%20Protection%20Bill%202020%20Updated.pdf

The Writer is a Research Associate and a 2nd-year law student at ZFL.

Twitter: @areebaQureshii

Published in ZU-BLAWGS, August 10th, 2021

Global Climate Change

                                                                                                   Clifford Louis

Development in technology has enabled man to devise technological advancements. Without a hitch now, man is able to design extraterrestrial structures, see easily through the skies and contact anyone across the globe with the revolutionized communication system. Amidst all these astounding developments, Man has failed to counter environmental degradation, which has a direct impact on survival of ‘life’. The self-promoted growth of global warming has brewed the threat of global ‘Climate Change’. According to International Energy Agency’s (IEA), the projected growth in energy demand will result in 43 percent rise in CO2 emissions by 2035 and would contribute to the worst consequences of global climate change. (Fig3)

Co2 emissions have been rising extensively since the industrial revolution has taken place. Climate model, GCM has forecasted that the average surface temperature could increase another 3.2 to 5.4oC by 2100. (Fig 1). These emissions have jumped to an alarming 389 ppm from a non-damaging 280 ppm in 1850 and further projected to range from 5 billion to 28 billion tons of carbon per year in the year 2100. Of the factors, that contributes to these activities, energy generation accounts for 70-75% of CO2 emissions while the remaining 20-25% of the emissions are caused from deforestation & motor vehicle exhausts.

       Figure 1 – High emissions causing increase in surface temperature

Hence, a global practice is required to curb the global warming effect. R&D efforts have concentrated on the development of CCS (Carbon Capture and Sequestration), with the focus to separate CO2 from flue gases and further bury it in deep subsurface geological formations to save the environment from the detrimental effects of CO2.

CCS encircles number of technologies that are used to capture CO2 from point sources, such as plants and other industrial facilities; compress it and further transport it through pipelines into deep geological formations for indefinite isolation from the environment. It is a viable option that can help curb hazardous emissions, thus materializing a giant leap in a clean and sustainable energy future. One such example is the CO22 sequestration project, Sleipner, located in the North Sea, where carbon dioxide is removed from natural gas and then is disposed -off in deep saline aquifer. In developed countries, such as USA, Germany, Great Britain, Netherlands and others, special efforts are also being done for CCS implementation which can decelerate the speed-rocketing environmental degradation.

The economics concerning this technology is a tad bit high because capturing and compressing CO2 may increase the fuel needs of plants by 25%-40. Moreover, the CCS scrubbing and transport systems could end up consuming upto 40% of power station’s energy. With a huge CAPEX expected, experts further estimate that average capturing cost would be about 120$/t. (Figure 2).  Whereas, the cost of transporting CO2 to burial sites could cost £1m per mile. Other experts have also added that the use of CCS technology is deemed to add an additional 8 -12 cents of cost per kilowatt hour.

                                             Figure 2 – CCS Capturing Cost per ton

 

                                  Figure 3 – CO2 emissions projections through 2100

Decisions made during the next few years, will strongly control the magnitude of risk of global climate change for the next 100 years. Undoubtedly, this is a milestone demonstration of a new technology at the dawn of a new century. It unbolts new possibilities for sustainability and environmental protection. CCS geo-sequestration is the only option for decreasing greenhouse gas emissions while using fossil fuels and retaining the prevalent energy-distribution infrastructure. While the prospects are quite promising, there are number of social and economic challenges ahead which needs to be coped positively.

The Author is a post-graduate of  the University of Calgary and has expertise in Petroleum Engineering.

Linkedin: Clifford Louis

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