Make intelligence and prosecution systems efficient
Rehman Malik’s policy to control terrorist attacks is thoroughly unrealistic. He wants arbitrary powers given to the federal interior ministry and law enforcement agencies to be able to put an end to them. He naively asks whether it really mattered if motorbikes had been stopped from plying on the roads of Karachi for just six hours. Over 1.4 million motorbikes are presently on the roads of the industrial and commercial hub of the country. Banning motorbike movement practically meant bringing the city to a standstill – with its impact spread over the business, educational and social activities. It would have caused a lot of inconvenience, and in some cases suffering, to hundreds of thousands of people who have no other means of commuting in the sprawling metropolis. The ban was avowedly imposed on the basis of ‘credible’ intelligence reports that motorbikes are likely to be used to launch attack on religious gatherings. That nothing of the sort happened on Friday is a reflection on the quality of the intelligence Malik had cited as reason enough for the ban.
On Friday, the PPP and opposition parliamentarians pointed out to Malik that the executive order banning motorbikes in Sindh and Balochistan was in violation of the constitutional provisions ensuring provincial autonomy. The interior minister retaliated by holding parliament responsible for the bad law and order situation as it had not passed the anti-terrorism bills nor amended clauses of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) avowedly meant to bring terrorists to justice. He was rightly reminded that the government’s wisdom could always be challenged because it was directly answerable to parliament. Further that the ATA bills could not be passed by the Senate because of flaws in the legislation which could violate fundamental human rights and provide the basis for state terrorism.
What Rehman Malik needs to realise is that while fighting the forces working in the shadows what is of crucial importance is the improvement in the efficiency of the intelligence agencies. Similarly, instead of blaming the courts for freeing the terrorists, Rehman Malik should have worked with the law ministry to upgrade the prosecution department so that no loopholes were left in the preparation of cases. Similarly, the administration needed to provide protection to witnesses. With all the six witnesses in Wali Khan Babar murder case having been killed one by one, few would have the courage to help the courts sentence the criminals. In countries which have succeeded in dealing with terrorist threats, there has been more reliance on an efficient intelligence and prosecution system than on stringent laws. One never hears the US secretary of the department of homeland security or British home secretary blaming the security failure on the lawmakers or the mythical ‘third or invisible force’ as a clueless Rehman Malik so often finds refuge in.
