PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government is likely to set up a law commission for addressing issues concerning devolved subjects following the 18th Constitutional Amendment.“The government is considering establishing a law commission, which will review and update old laws and recommend new legislation with special focus on devolved subjects in the wake of the 18th amendment,” Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Arshad Abdullah said on Monday.He said that the government was also planning to make amendments to the laws related to civil procedure code aimed at providing inexpensive and quick justice to litigants.While referring to the Child Protection and Welfare Bureau, Nizam-i-Adl Regulations 2009, and the Provincial Public Service Commission (Amendment) Bill 2011 under which the tenure of the commission members was reduced from five to three years, he said that the government had made a record legislation.
The minister said that the main objective of the child protection bureau was to provide to children a protective environment, food, shelter, education and vocational training besides family reunification services.About shortage of judges, Mr Abdullah said that increase in the judges` strength at the Peshawar High Court was need of the hour to address the backlog of 20,000 pending cases and provide speedy justice to litigants.He said that only nine judges were currently working at the PHC against its sanctioned strength of 20. He said that new judges were also required for Darul Qaza in Swat and Bannu bench of the PHC.Answering a question about accused in terrorism cases, the law minister observed that the circumstantial evidence was sufficient for conviction of such accused.
“The rise in conviction rate of suspected terrorists will yield good results in the government`s counter-terrorism efforts,” said the law minister.He said that the President in consultation with federal and provincial governments had promulgated Action in Aid of Civil Powers Regulations-2011 for Fata and Pata to carry out operation against miscreants.The regulations will provide a legal framework for the armed forces that have been called upon by the federal and provincial governments to conduct operations against miscreants waging war against the state, attacking its infrastructure and trying to assert unlawful control over the territories of Pakistan, he said.The law minister said that the Khyber Pakthunkhwa budget was balanced as no new tax was imposed on people and Rs80 billion had been allocated to the developmental projects in the ADP.He said that record development projects, including construction of roads, bridges, hospitals, had been started in PK-18, Charsadda. He said that more projects would be started to provide facilities to the people of this constituency. – Dawn
