Desperate times require desperate measures
Greater determination and more vigilance have reduced militant attacks in Quetta and Karachi while this has failed to happen in the case of Peshawar. Relying increasingly on electronic technology, the militants have improved their coordination and are able to act more swiftly. They threaten witnesses, prosecutors and judges to wriggle out whenever caught. Criminals confessing to having killed hundreds get away by pleading they had been forced to make the admissions by the police. Witnesses are eliminated: Wali Khan Babar case being the most outstanding though by no means the only one. Both the federal prosecutor and judge in the case of former Punjab Governor Taseer’s murder received death threats. In June this year terrorists attacked a Sindh High Court Judge leaving 9 dead and severely injuring the justice.
The new law allows the LEAs to shoot at sight. Further it aims at plugging loopholes that allow the criminal to give LEAs the slip. It allows the detention of the accused for three months, eight weeks more than envisaged in the old law. In case the investigation officer fails to submit the challan, the task would be handed over to a joint investigation team. To avoid lengthy litigation the trial will be completed within seven days. Electronic evidence including text messages, telephone calls and emails would now be treated as permissible evidence against suspected terrorists and in cases of extortion, targeted killing and kidnappings for ransom. Screens would be used during trial to shield witnesses, judges and prosecutors from public view. Trial could be held inside jail premises or through video links. The CJ of a High Court may allow transfer of a case from an anti-terrorism court falling within his jurisdiction to a similar court anywhere in Pakistan. Similarly investigation of a case could be transferred from one place to any other place in the country.
The critics may hold that some of the provisions in the new law militate against individual privacy and violate human rights. Further that they can be used against political opponents. Desperate maladies however require desperate remedies. One hopes that once there is a decrease in the level of terrorist activity, the changes would be withdrawn. What remains to be seen is whether the prosecution can prepare fool proof cases against more than 4,500 terrorists arrested in Karachi during the current operation lone within the stipulated period. The cases have to withstand questioning by the well paid high calibre defence counsel.
