In cases where intelligence agencies, army are involved, cases were filed in courts but the accused were acquitted.
KARACHI: There can be no two opinions that if someone is picked up by the law-enforcement agencies their next of kin must be informed. But in some cases, for security reasons the information is not made public. 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.
We can also see what a brotherly Muslim country like Turkey does with elements it thinks are behind acts of violence. There, fighter aircraft are used to bomb hideouts of the Kurds in the northern mountains on the Iraqi border. This has been done to limit the activities of certain Kurdish groups which have carried out acts of terrorism in Turkey. At least, no such thing is being done in Pakistan.
We have to understand that states cannot lie low and be blackmailed especially when the system of justice is weak and tends to favour those who are involved in acts of terrorism. For the sake of national security, sometimes things cannot be made public. For instance, if information is made public that such and such suspects have been arrested, that could make their accomplices, who are still at large, go underground. 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.
Lt-Col (r) Mukhtar Ahmed Butt
Published in The Express Tribune, February 16th, 2012.
