MQM presents proposals to counter terrorism

Party stresses military courts should be a temporary set up.

KARACHI: Leaders of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) have termed the establishment of military courts a temporary solution and have expressed hope that no political worker would be tried in them.

“The MQM is only accepting the proposal of military courts after having been assured by the government that only terrorists will be tried in them,” said Barrister Farogh Naseem. “If military courts are used against any political parties, the MQM will protest and challenge it in the courts. Pakistan is not in a state of war with any political party,” he added.

Barrister Naseem was addressing a press conference where the party presented its recommendations for the national policy on counter-terrorism at the Khursheed Begum Secretariat on Saturday.

The MQM is sending two strategic documents to Islamabad with suggestions for a counter-terrorism policy. Addressing the press conference, MNA Farooq Sattar said that military courts are only a temporary solution and called for their time limit on them. He lamented that the party had also given its recommendations on terrorism last year but they had gone unheeded.

Listing down the proposals, Sattar said that a parliamentary committee should act as a council to oversee the functioning of the National Counter Terrorism Authority (Nacta). He added that the authority should be established under the Nacta Act, 2013 and should be made effective, functional, and permanent.

The party emphasised that madrassa reforms are important and without them, terrorism would not be eliminated. “The curriculum of the madrassas should be checked thoroughly,” he said. Stressing on community policing, Sattar called for a neighbourhood watch programme to be put in place. “You should know your neighbour. One should also see what the Maulvi is stating in his Friday sermons.”

The MQM leader called for police reforms, and new methods in investigation and prosecution to be adopted. In forensics, DNA and tissue testing should be introduced, he suggested. Judges and witnesses should be protected and judiciary should be able to give verdicts on terrorists without fear. The party said that the financers of terrorists and those funding banned outfits should be exposed and held accountable.

Moreover, religious parties should be questioned regarding who they support. The recommendations also call for a special task force to be created, while rapid response forces at the federal, provincial and district levels be formed at the earliest.

The party also emphasised to carry out de-weaponisation in the country. “Now is the time to pass the MQM’s bill calling for de-weaponisation in the country,” said Sattar.

Moreover, the party has called for coordination among the law enforcement agencies and said that there was lapse of coordination in the Peshawar attacks. Pakistan should be de-radicalised and the curriculum in religious schools should be monitored to check if they are promoting extremism. “Glorification of terrorists by media should be stopped. A code of conduct for the media should be formed.”

Published in The Express Tribune, December 28^th, 2014.