KARACHI:
The Punjab government may have detained Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) leader Malik Ishaq under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) act, but the effectiveness of the move will be determined by the government’s future actions.
Ishaq, who went on a speaking tour after his release from jail and addressed Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan rallies in various cities including Khairpur, Lahore and Rahim Yar Khan, has been detained for 10 days under the law. His inflammatory speeches were followed by anti-Shia slogans by the crowds.
(Read: LeJ leader continues to preach violence)
Under the MPO, the government can detain someone for a period of 30 days, which can be extended for up to 90 days. In the past, people have been held under the law for up to six months. However, the case then has to be referred to a high court where a board decides on future action.
Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) leader Hafiz Saeed was similarly detained after the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai, but he challenged his detention and won the case.
Saeed continues to make hate-filled speeches and challenge the state and was one of the key backers of the campaign against blasphemy law reforms.
(Read: One for all - Jamatud Dawa gathering concludes with a rallying call)
According to noted lawyer Khwaja Naveed, it is essential to provide the court with proof. “The court needs to be told that the activities of this person or his party are prejudicial to the security and integrity of Pakistan and if he remains at large it would be very dangerous for the community. There needs to be material available to prove this, it cannot be done on the basis of presumptions and assumptions.”
Legal cover for detentions
The military and the civilian government, however, have found a legal cover for detentions elsewhere. The Action in Aid of Civil Power ordinance for the provincially and federally administered tribal areas authorises the military to detain suspects, carry out trials and announce punishments, and legalises military operations in the tribal areas since 2008.
Reforms to the Frontier Crimes Regulation still allow for collective punishment. While a whole tribe will not be arrested first in the case of a crime allegedly committed by a tribe member, action will be taken against “immediate male members of the family followed by sub-tribe and other sections of the tribe”.
However, in Balochistan, illegal detentions and extrajudicial killings are allegedly carried out by the Frontier Corps (FC) and the Inter-Services Intelligence, and according to a Human Rights Watch report, the police often refuse to register complaints. The report stated that the police told families that they had no powers to investigate enforced disappearances by intelligence agencies or the FC.
In a related development, the National Assembly (NA) was told earlier this year that at least half of the suspects in terrorism cases were acquitted by the courts in Sindh, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Islamabad Capital Territory from 2008 to 2010. On August 3, the NA was told that 3,143 ‘terrorists’ have been arrested in the last three years.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 23rd, 2011.
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