Law minister proposes establishing authority to provide free legal aid

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Law and Justice Farogh Naseem on Tuesday chaired a meeting of the committee constituted by the federal government to prepare a set of recommendations for setting up a new legal aid mechanism for the poor and vulnerable segment of the society.

The law minister suggested to constitute a Central Legal Aid Authority with sub-committees at provincial levels to provide free legal aid to deserving litigants who might otherwise not be able to defend their genuine legal rights or interests due to limited financial resources.

The proposed authority shall work under the supervision of the Ministry of Human Rights in terms of the rules of business.

During the meeting it was decided that the TORs and the Draft Bill of the proposed Legal Aid Authority shall be finalised within two weeks by the Ministry of Human Rights and will be placed before the committee to be reviewed by relevant stakeholders.

It was also agreed that a core group of lawyers will be nominated to work on pro bono basis for ensuring the implementations of the proposals.

Federal Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on accountability Shahzad Akbar, Secretary Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan and other officials of the law ministry attend the meeting.