There will be Qazi courts; we already have Qazi?? courts since 1994 but now they will have more powers and they will have to decide every criminal case within four months, every civil case within six months. The idea is to give quick justice and cheap justice. But nothing in this law is going to resolve the common problems of people, the problems of education, healthcare, and communication. It is only about giving them quick justice. The lawyers have no role in this new system. So the litigants will represent themselves in the courts. They won’t have to pay the fees of lawyers, they will argue their cases and the Qazi will then decide. We are skeptical about the success of this experiment. But the people of Swat were desperate for peace and they were willing to accept anything. If the Qazi courts, Sharia can resolve their problems they would be happy.

The judiciary in Pakistan is very unresponsive to the people’s needs. There is corruption, there are long delays in deciding cases, it’s also very expensive. That is why people in Malakand feel that if they have Sharia law it will reduce the cost of litigation, they will be get justice quickly, they won’t have to go to the lawyers to argue their cases -- and they will have Islamic law. The argument goes that Pakistan was created in the name of Islam, so Pakistan should have Islamic law. If this doesn’t deliver, if people can’t get justice quickly and easily, then they will be disappointed. I think that the issue has only been partly and temporarily resolved. It may crop up again.

... contd.