The production of illegally detained,
suspected terrorists in the Supreme Court should have been met with a
sense of triumph. Instead, the last month has seen families of
missing persons, who have joined the Amna Janjua led missing
persons
camp
as sympathisers with terrorists and militants.
Those who have hailed the Supreme Courts actions have been accused of
neglecting the memory of the victims of terrorism and their families.
Things have changed quite swiftly over
the past few months. Then, everyone seemed content with denying that
anyone was actually “missing” or that the military and
intelligence agencies had anything to do with their disappearance.
Today, many argue, quite openly that
our intelligence agencies only “pick up” the guilty and if they
do so, so what? After all its in the national interest!
A letter to the
editor
in
this
paper
summarised the prevalent sentiment as follows:
And there are
instances when those
arrested have been found
to be involved in
attacks on members of
the armed forces, military
installations and on
buildings owned by
intelligence agencies. In
such instances, cases were
filed in the courts
but those accused were
acquitted.
It appears guilt is determined by the
institutional affiliation of the accuser rather than the presumed
actions of the accused.
A common criticism is that the courts
and judges are incompetent or scared, or worse both. They are
unwilling or unable to prosecute cases involving those accused of
terrorism and are in majority of cases acquitted. Further, evidence gathered by extra judicial means cannot be submitted in court, further hampering the prosecutions case.
However, is the
solution to limited judicial capacity extra judicial murder and
torture? Or is the provision of resources and improvements in the
law, to convict criminals properly, a better long term solution?
Another line of criticism against those
who have question the policy of enforced disappearances includes the
sentiment that:
Instead of trying to understand this
issue, our media does the opposite and makes a hue and cry over this,
and in the end the terrorists benefit. This also lowers the morale of
our armed forces who feel that while they are risking their lives to
fight the militants, society in general is placing greater value on
the rights of the militants.
I find it quite
insulting that people believe that extra judicial actions; which are
illegal according to the law of the land, which military personnel
have taken an oath to uphold, will somehow improve the morale of the
armed forces.
I assume that
members of the armed forces are serving to uphold the law of the
land, which clearly protects the rights of even the worst amongst us.
Those who say that we should recall the sacrifices of our soldiers
who are fighting terrorism by looking the other way while illegal
disappearances continue do no service to the memory of the brave
members of our armed forces.
Perhaps the worst
interpretation of the judicial proceedings is the perception of the
“rights of terrorists”, as if this is something that the Supreme
Court has decided to bestow upon them. They are no rights “for”
terrorists, these rights are universal and applicable upon all
Pakistani citizens that cannot and should not be selectively applied.
Have we not
criticised the United States for its confinement of detainees in
Guantanamo bay and their policy of extraordinary rendition for the
very same reasons? Do we not highlight the arbitrary confinement of
Palestinians by Israel and Indian forces in Kashmir, accusing them of
the very same acts that we justify domestically?
No one is
campaigning for the guilty to be released unpunished. The
constitution which enshrines certain rights to even murderers,
rapists and terrorists, also aims to ensure that these very people
face the full force of the law. That people arrested are duly
processed, with their families made aware of their whereabouts and
granted access to legal representation, does not diminish the states
ability to hold them to account.
We as a nation
should consider whether the memories of those who are victims of
terrorism is honoured by brutal, illegal violence. Or do we as a
nation rise above the actions of cowards and apply the law in word
and spirit?
Unfortunately, we
appear seduced by the appeal of raw and bloody justice, delivered
swiftly, rather than making the effort to implement the hard
decisions required to build the capacity of law enforcement and the
judiciary.
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