MINGORA: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti inaugurated Darul Qaza in Fizza Ghat area of Swat district on Tuesday.“The establishment of Darul Qaza is a historical event for the people of this area. Its credit goes to leaders of all political and religious parties, judiciary, lawyers and dwellers of Malakand division in particular,” he told the participants of the inaugural ceremony.The government had enacted Nizam-i-Adl Regulation to implement Sharia Law in Malakand division. Under the regulation, signed into a law by the president on April 13, 2009, qazi courts were established in the region at local and district levels.However, residents of the area were showing concern over delay in setting up of Darul Qaza, the third tier of the system to act as high court, in Malakand.The chief minister said that terrorists in Swat took advantage of the vacuum in the system and set the entire region on fire. “Today we are able to materialise our promise made with the people of Malakand about establishing a system to provide them speedy justice,” he added.He said that all political and religious parties of the province assisted them in establishing the system. He said that people of the region rendered enormous sacrifices for the system.He said that there was no room in Islam for the nefarious designs and evil agenda of terrorists.
He also thanked Chief Justice of Pakistan and the former and incumbent chief justices of Peshawar High Court for their cooperation in establishing the system.“Under this system civil cases are decided within six months while criminal cases are disposed of within four months,” Mr Hoti said. He added that total number of civil cases in all courts of Malakand division till March 2009 was 16,059.“This number increased to 35,752 between April 2009 and October 2010. Out of which 26,912 cases have been decided while 8,041 are still pending,” he said.He said that total number of criminal cases was 48,407 out of which 39,811 were decided till October, 2010 while 8,659 were still pending before various courts.The chief minister said that successes of executive magistracy system could be judged from the fact that 18,388 out of 18,967 cases were decided. He said that they had not reached the destination but they were heading in the right direction. He appreciated the role judiciary.“We have ensured fast, quick and cheap justice under this system. The terrorists exploited the situation for fulfillment of their heinous designs. The people of Malakand have paid a heavy price for it,” he said.Mr Hoti claimed that evil designs of terrorists had been frustrated with implementation of Nizam-i-Adl and establishment of Darul Qaza.He said that reconstruction was started and work on 30 schools was underway with assistance of the US. “Work on 20 other schools will start within 10 days while reconstruction of high schools is in progress with the help of army,” he added – Dawn
