Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Thursday, March 28th, 2024

A Society without Justice

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A Society without Justice

His son was kidnapped by local Taliban and nobody knew where he was kept or being transported. He worked in an international NGO and he was twice warned by Taliban to quit his job and stop working with the ‘infidels’, but large number of people were jobless in the area and having a look at the lucrative pay of his job, he ignored their threat and kept working. It was also a fact that many people had used the name of Taliban to reach to their own targets. If one wanted to snatch someone’s property, he would send him a threatening letter on the name of Taliban and the frightened person would soon sell the property on a very cheap price and silently leave the area.

When he first received the warning to leave his job, he took it as someone’s joke and did not take it seriously. Later on, when he was warned in a bit serious tone, he got a bit scared but it just made him more cautious. Now, he became more careful in his out-of-office movements and tried his best not to go to remote areas. He worked in Kabul and returned to his native area once or twice in a year. But this time when he returned to the area, everything was already well-planned. He was called by someone to somewhere and was kidnapped on the way. People were sure that he was kidnapped by them and it was feared that his dead body would be found after some days but it did not happen like this.

His father learned from some sources that his son was kept in somewhere. He started his efforts to meet different elders to bring back his son safely. Local Taliban told him that the chief of Taliban for the area resided somewhere in Pakistan and he must meet him as he was final decision maker in this regard. He went to that city and after a lot of efforts; he was able to take the orders of the release of his son. He had to promise that his son would immediately leave his job and if they did not keep their words, their entire family would be eliminated. Before his arrival to his house, his son was released and he at once resigned from his job.

This is one of the many stories of the strong and actual rule of Taliban. In a large number of far-flung areas, the rule of government only exists in papers and there, some small number of government organizations also work but under the heavy guard of police and other security organizations. In such circumstances, Taliban and their parallel system of government exist, in reality if not in papers. Previously, this trend was present only in some southern states of the country but last few years witnessed the increasing influence of Taliban in all parts of the country and also their parallel government. The most impressive factor working for Taliban is the fear of death or extreme punishment. Contrary to government, where it takes many months to take a decision, the system of Taliban is very brisk and it has become the main source of their increasing influence.

There were reports that in these areas where Taliban are in power, trust of people has considerably increased on the judicial system of Taliban. This condition is due to the two factors. One is the increasing trend of corruption in the judicial system of government. In this system, a common person can never afford to have justice because bribery and corruption decides upon the every single move of the system of justice. Starting from filing a report of crime, till hiring a lawyer and then the decision of judge, every single step proceeds with the fuel of money.

There is extreme corruption in police and they treat very badly a person who is poor and of no use to them. On the other hand, a rich person is given extreme importance who can make the policemen happy by heating up their pockets. Similarly, the judicial system is so complicated that a common person can never understand and take his right from this system while a rich person can make his way by using his money.

At the end, there is not present any kind of check and balance on the decisions being taken by the judges. Usually, the decisions are made according to the bribe offered and once again, the rich person successfully buys a decision in his favor. With all these, it usually takes many months and years until a decision is made and this justice delayed can easily be termed as justice denied.

All these gave birth to a parallel system of judgment by Taliban. Here, everything is so brisk and cheap that decisions are made without any cost and in the span of only a few days. Here, a victim goes to the court, both the parties are summoned to the court and without any formalities of lawyers and paper-work, a judge listens to both the parties and having a look at the evident facts, makes his decision which is accepted by both the parties without any objection and there is not kept any kind of discrimination of rich and poor.

In one of the documentary programs of a local television channel, a person is shown who narrates a similar story. His son was killed by a strong and influential landlord of the area. He went to the court and filed a case against this strong man. The landlord started spreading his money and soon the results were also visible. First, he was picked up by local police and was tortured badly in the police station for filing a case against a ‘respectable’ member of the society but he refused to give up. In the court, he was not provided with a competent lawyer.

Then his case was deliberately delayed for many years and it took almost three years until a decision was made. In the end, his case was dismissed on the grounds of being weak and not having enough evidence. In these three years, the man had to sell a part of his agricultural land to meet the expenses of court and in the end, he ended up with nothing.

Then he heard of the court of Taliban. He went there and after two days, he was called to the court. Here, he found the landlord standing in the court. Under the fear of his death, he accepted his crime. In less than a week, the decision came and the rich man was ordered to compensate for his losses. He not only got back his land but was also given a large sum of money from the landlord who seemed very afraid in the court.

Because of all these factors, the trust of people is increasing on these courts and some people have even started talking about the return of Taliban when social injustices were not as flagrant as they are in this democratic government. This is a very alarming situation and if the present conditions persisted, there may be many more talking in favor of Taliban. The upcoming elections give us all a hope of change and betterment but if nothing changes, there would be change and that would be at the cost of lot of bloodshed.   

Muhammad Rasool Shah works as Academic Coordinator at Barakat Int’l School, Kabul. He can reached at muhammadrasoolshah@gmail.com

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