A natural procedure would demand the passing over of suspected terrorists to the police force who would then initiate the trials in courts of law against the accused. This stage, however, doesn’t arrive as the indifference and incompetence of the police results in lengthy detentions.
Among the few lucky cases that do succeed in reaching this stage remain unaddressed due to a painfully slow and faulty system. According to experts, in most cases, the accused are acquitted due to major discrepancies in the prosecuting system devised to try and punish hardcore criminals in the anti terror courts.
A news report provides statistics that display that the three anti terror courts operating in Rawalpindi, 56 accused were acquitted out of a total of 96 cases with only 21 being punished. The main factors undermining prosecution is the underlying fear that not only stems from the threats received by prosecutors from terrorists who have kept tags on their entire families, but also from the authorities that demand and conduct fully fledged inquiries after every acquittal that results in many losing their jobs.
For extra spice in the story, a comparison between the income of the defense lawyers and prosecutors also highlights their disparate states of existence. This spells for the need to amplify the administrative support to the prosecutors by injecting more resources to enhance facilities and performances. This would increase motivational levels and serve as a means of effective working as lack of facilities leads to slowing down of procedures. Increase in salaries, beefing up security of not only prosecution lawyers, but for protection of witnesses must be brought under consideration immediately.
In the chaotic backdrop of our security situation, some earnest structural changes ought to be brought about to ensure Pakistani citizens that they are inhabitants of a democratic country and not of some lawless land governed only by tyrants and hegemonic.
LUBNA UMAR
Islamabad
