The question is not that of judges alone. What about prosecutors and witnesses? We have seen prosecutors and witnesses killed by murderers. How would military courts protect them? We are told that military courts will be speedy because they would be given a time frame to convict or acquit the accused. But the same can be done with the civilian courts.
In a society like ours, we must provide security and protection to judges, witnesses and prosecutors, who are trying to convict the bad guys. But protection is not just about posting gun-toting guards around them. After all, former Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer was gunned down by the guard entrusted with the task to protect him. One of the tools of protection in these circumstances is ensuring the anonymity of those under threat. Keeping their identities unknown from the prying eyes of the media and the public at large is a tool successfully tried in many countries around the world. Why can’t we do that here? Yes, we can and we must.
This is not a conventional but an asymmetric war, with the state and society fighting the visible and invisible beasts. No army in recorded history has ever defeated an insurgency without the active support of the people. It has not happened before and will not happen here.
Do we know how the bodies of the recently hanged convicts were received? There were big funerals for them. It is clear that we still have sizeable support for the terrorists’ ideology. Can military courts fight this sympathy wave for terrorists? The answer is a clear ‘No’.
The heart and soul of this war is not about convicting, killing or hanging a certain number of terrorists. It is all about eliminating support for the terror ideology from the minds of the people. It may sound like a cliche but it is and remains a fight for the hearts and minds of the people.
In the fight for the hearts and minds of the people, it is critical to prove the moral superiority of the state fighting against terror. If we act like terrorists in our pursuit to eliminate terror, we will only embolden them. We must punish terrorists but we must not act like them. Just like terrorists, we can’t be the judge and the jury. Therefore, we must create mechanisms not only to administer justice but ensure that it is seen to be doing justice as well. Yes, justice delayed is justice denied but justice hurried is also justice buried.
Remember, terrorists can and will commit the most heinous crimes but the state will erode its moral plank if it punishes a single innocent person. In the fight for justice and peace, it is critical to establish the moral authority of the state. This war will not be decided by military superiority but by the moral superiority of the state.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 31st, 2014.
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The question about democracy is the same as for pregnancy: Can you be a partial democracy? How does one go about restoring the moral authority of the state? Isn't the "state" in Pakistan the elected civilian government (administrative and legislative arms) , the security establishment (army and police), and the judiciary? If only the elected officials - the chosen representative of the people - are the "state," then how does one restore its "moral" authority when it has been compromised and interrupted for over 60 years? Perhaps the author can share with us a practical step-by-step approach. (The larger state has ceded much ground to the un-elected extremists who have gone unpunished and allowed to roam free without legal consequences except sporadic action.).
well this is not the first thing which is being included in the constitution. this really the PPO law but now the military has given full authority before the people were missing in balochistan and sindh but now these courts run their cases before bo dear to ask them about the missing but now they can also punish them
Another obscurantist desperately attempts to stop the reversal of this darkness that is upon us, miring us in drivel. We must show no mercy for terrorists. More power to the Army.
Night shifts for the guillotine if we must, but there's no turning back now.
When one carefully analyses the situation in holistic way, will completely agree with this author. It is not just a sympathy to terrorist but with the ideology. Pakistanis in general are brought up in a situation that they are superior to other religion, and the religion is greater than humanity. The country is will treat all its people equal in all respect despite of religion caste creed and race. Everyone have equal rights to live. Providing military courts to trial a person who is yet to be proved to be terrorist is not fare for the countries morality. In spite increasing the court infrastructure similar to proposed military courts will bring the delays down. Always the civilian courts should be supreme in the country. Any executions by military courts should be reviewed in respective supreme of high courts.
Absolutely, spectacular words are commented by solangy.Exactly these are zigzag paths one which we to calculate our steps.