From Language Inequality to Barriers in Access to Justice: The Impact of English and Urdu on Legal Communication and Justice in Pakistan

Author(s) : Amara Syed , Arshad Mahmood , Arshad Mahmood Raja , Syed Junaid Ahmed Shah

Abstract:

Pakistan is a linguistically rich country where various languages compete with each other, though English and Urdu largely rule the landscape. Although Urdu is the national language of the country but English serves as the official language in most departments, including the court, which naturally challenges the common man in terms of comprehension. The intricacies of legal language foster linguistic inequality, which, in a way, denies the common man access to justice. This is mainly because of the fact that the English language is rather different from the local language, as they have different developmental histories. Unprecedented importance given to English naturally affects the status and use of Urdu. As a result, this leads to language disparity, which hinders the accessibility to justice. The quantitative data for this study were collected using the probability sampling technique with the aim of finding out the influence of English and Urdu on legal communication and justice within Pakistan's judicial system. In order to explore the linguistic inequality engendered by the predominance of English in the legal sphere, Pierre Bourdieu’s theoretical framework was employed for this study. This was found that individuals express a preference for utilizing Urdu in the legal context, which is the result of their familiarity with Urdu. This means Urdu empowers them to articulate and convey their sentiments, ideas, and perceptions with efficacy. The study highlights the necessity to designate Urdu as the official language so that every citizen of the country can get easier access to justice.
Keywords: Official Language, National Language, Linguistic Barriers, Legal Communication, Accessibility of Justice