All the parliamentary parties last week decided to set up special courts to be presided over by army officers for trying suspected terrorists. But having an independent judiciary system already rooted in the country, why do we need
parallel military courts.
Article 10
of the Constitution of Pakistan provides safeguards against unlawful arrest and
detention, as a fundamental right to every person. The article states that
every person, who is arrested and detained in custody, shall be produced before
a magistrate within a period of 24 hours of such arrest.We already have Aid of Civil Power Act 2011 enforced in the tribal areas of Pakistan that allows the armed forces to detain an accused miscreant and bars high courts from exercising any jurisdiction under Article 199. But what have we achieved so far through this legislation? Are there any concrete results?
The
major problem here is the lack of capacity building of law enforcement agencies
and the absence of security that should be provided to witnesses and judges in terror
cases. Saleem Shahzad's case is a well-known example. When the case was handed
over to law enforcement agencies, the basic forensics, like fingerprints, weren't collected
from his car. We all have seen how Ahrarul Hind managed to scare off the
witnesses and Anti-Terrorism Court judges in Benazir Bhutto murder trial.
Instead of devising this shortcut to make things look better on surface, a more intelligent measure would be to rectify these loopholes in the existing system? Instead of using article 245 of the Constitution to formulate a parallel justice system, why can’t the armed forces aid civil justice system by providing security to judges and witnesses under the same article.
Instead of devising this shortcut to make things look better on surface, a more intelligent measure would be to rectify these loopholes in the existing system? Instead of using article 245 of the Constitution to formulate a parallel justice system, why can’t the armed forces aid civil justice system by providing security to judges and witnesses under the same article.
This
terrorism is not a fight against Pakistan military only; it is a fight against
the state, as people who have lost their live in the hands of these terrorists
are mostly local citizens. We give
graphic images of those involved in targetting high profile military
officers and places to papers’ front pages, to make their punishment exemplary. But we let
those out of jail, who confess killing scores of Shias and are involved
in the secretarial killings of nearly 4000 of the sect.
Army enforced measures cannot be the solution for this gruesome problem of terrorism against state. To tackle this we will have to address the root causes that give rise to terrorist-mindset. And this sure cannot be done by further curbing the rights of fair trials, on the basis of mere suspicion.
Bushra
2028 hours
Monday 29 December 2014
Army enforced measures cannot be the solution for this gruesome problem of terrorism against state. To tackle this we will have to address the root causes that give rise to terrorist-mindset. And this sure cannot be done by further curbing the rights of fair trials, on the basis of mere suspicion.
Bushra
2028 hours
Monday 29 December 2014
