Pakistan

‘Acquitted terrorists regrouping in K-P’

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government blames lower judiciary for a rapid increase in terrorist activities in the province.

Qaiser Butt February 25, 2011

ISLAMABAD: The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government has blamed the lower judiciary for a rapid increase in terrorist activities in the province.

According to the government, terrorist activities in the province have increased because courts “honourably” exonerate 98 per cent of the terrorists that face trial.

The provincial cabinet met in Peshawar on Wednesday to discuss the situation, said provincial information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain during a news conference. “Those terrorists freed by the courts become active again as they are given the opportunity to regroup,” he reasoned.

Hussain said that the cabinet was astonished that courts sentence only two per cent of the terrorists that stand trial. “Terrorists deserve to be hanged. They should be awarded the death sentence,” he rhetorically said.

Giving details of cases decided by courts in the last two years, Hussain said that 200 cases were registered during 2009 but the number fell to 101 in 2010. However, according to him, a 75 per cent increase was recorded in the last three months.

It is due to the government’s efforts, he said, that only 96 per cent of those accused for terrorism were freed by courts and four per cent were sentenced.

“Those terrorists who were freed by the courts have been able to re-establish their networks,” Hussain said. “The police and security forces have made massive sacrifices in arresting them but the terrorists have been given a licence to kill innocent people.”

The Khyber-Pakhtunkwa cabinet also noted that those militants who were not sentenced were apparently responsible for more attacks on police and security forces.

“Almost all of them took shelter in Mohmand Agency and Malakand to re-launch attacks on civilians and security forces,” Hussain said.

He said that senior leaders have allowed local commanders to make independent decision about terrorist activities. “Courts must discharge their responsibilities in accordance with the prevailing situation in the province,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 25^th, 2011.

COMMENTS (9)

HQ | 13 years ago | Reply He is right. Unfortunately, there is a segment of society that supports extremists and "Pakistan’s legal system cannot prosecute terrorists because Pakistan’s legal system, as a subset of Pakistan’s overall state structure is fundamentally unequipped to act against those committing acts of violence in the name of God ". Source: http://grandtrunkroad.wordpress.com/2011/01/22/dysfunction-chronicled/ Judiciary is independent of Executive and thereofre if ANP blames that system, they are justified. It not just judiciary, Army kept postponing an effective operation against Taliban till spring 2009 and Pakistani media kept deceiving people: http://grandtrunkroad.wordpress.com/2009/01/20/geo-investigates-on-swat/ For those blaming ANP, they should know personal scarifices they've made in war against terror.The guy who is mentioned in this article, Mian Iftikhar Hussain had been target of several suicide attacks and his only son was gunned down. Please do not try scoring points at the expense of KPK and Pakistan

ABD | 13 years ago | Reply Government of Pakistan = joke Courts of Pakistan = Well, what can we say.....everything is happening right in front of our eyes Terrorists = Given oppurtunity because of state's incompetence to deal with with criminals. At the end of the day, the common Pakistani (whether Pashtun, Punjabi, Balochi, Sindhi or Mohajir) has to suffer the implications in an already economically collapsed environment

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Bangash | 13 years ago | Reply Laws need to be changed to make it more difficult for courts to release terrorists due to judiciual intimidation by terrorists.

wahab | 13 years ago | Reply Instead of complaining, make some tough laws man.. There is a reason u r called law makers

Usman Qureshi | 13 years ago | Reply it means government failed to produce proper proof against them, what a pity and it is so easy to shift blame

M M | 13 years ago | Reply Its alamring issue, some people also blame our judicery supports such school of thought.

moise | 13 years ago | Reply When foundations of govt shake, blame terrorist for everything.

Salma | 13 years ago | Reply lol. what a government . blaming poor lower judiciary . its a good strategy. but how long its going to work? you cant always blame others for incompitency

Ali Khan | 13 years ago | Reply The ANP complains against the local judiciary carry no weight as it itself using it and the police to punish their opponents just because they exercise their democratic right of contesting elections as indepent or as other parties candidates or support parties other than the ANP. In such a situation how militancy can be eliminated from KP ? Implicating opponents under the section 7-ATA while leaving the militants free roaming in the province. Burdening the juidiciary to deal with the fake terrorism cases instead of making strong prosecution against the terrorists is the hallmark of ANP. From Chief Minister and Peshawar CCPO down to the MPAs and SHOs are being busy in settling personal scores against their political opponents. Some three weeks ago father of an ANP MPA from Charsadda district lodged a murder case against 28 persons after a clash between the MPA's farther and his tenants in Mandani area of Tangi tehsil. Two persons from the MPA's side and one from the tenants side were killed. The police registered a murder case against 28 persons, some of them were members of a jirga who want to avoid the clash, from the tenants but refused to registered a casde against the MPA's father and the SHO as the people saying that the clash triggered when the MPA's father ordered the SHO to kill a persons who exchanged some words with the SHO. Even the MPA law minister allegedly used his influence on the distrcit judiciray and refused the registration of a criminal case against the SHO and the MPA's father, when brothers of the person killed from the tenant side filed an application with the distrct session judge of charsadda. To further pressurise the tenants police added section 7-ATA in the FIR after some days of the occurance of the incident. One of the jirga member, Khalid Khan, a former nazim if UC Dhakki, who also contested elections as independent candidate against the said MPA and lost with a narrow margin with the blessings of the returning officer, was also implicated in the case. The names of some local leaders of the PP-Sherpao who were member of the jirga were among the accused killers.

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