Walking free

Effective witness protection programmes are now of utmost necessity in Pakistan.

All of us wonder periodically why the incidence of terrorism in our country continues to rise, despite tough laws written out in statute books. Answers sometimes come our way in the form of statistics. Let us take a look at those from Punjab, where 559 cases of terrorism were heard and decided during 2012. Of these, 271 had to be dismissed and the accused acquitted after witnesses recanted their statements. Convictions were secured in a mere 145 cases; 414 cases ended in acquittal; in 124 others, the case had to be dropped and compromises were reached in 19 cases, as some of the complainants were private parties.



The US State Department’s 2010 Country Reports on Terrorism criticises Pakistan as being “plagued by an acquittal rate of approximately 75 per cent” and a legal system “almost incapable of prosecuting suspected terrorists”. Police officers and legal experts note that the threats to witnesses, and also policemen, who may choose to give evidence in a case, was a key ingredient of this problem. Other experts in their presentations and studies have also identified defective investigations and problems in the prosecution process as main reasons why persons accused of terrorist offences manage to get away.

All this is, of course, not entirely new to us. We have heard often of the mediocre police investigation process, the lack of ability to gather solid proof and the reliance on witnesses — who we see, often back away out of fear. A witness protection programme has been talked about, but it is hard to foresee this being especially useful, given our overall situation. Effective witness protection programmes are never easy to run, in any country. However, given the security situation of the country, this is something that is now of utmost necessity and must be devised as soon as possible.

The overall situation needs, however, to be urgently reviewed. Tough laws, such as the Anti-Terrorism Act, become ineffective when they are not backed by the justice system as a whole. It is clear that, for us, terrorism is a major problem. It can be solved only if we look at all the factors in a holistic fashion and find ways to ensure terrorists can be brought to justice and not simply allowed to walk away scot-free.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 3^rd, 2013.