Media watch: Supremacy of law

Media talks about the Supreme Court's role is resolving the case of the 11 missing acquitted prisoners.

Media watch is a daily round-up of key articles featured on news websites, hand-picked by The Express Tribune web staff.

Lost and found

The fact that the Supreme Court put enough pressure for the agencies to reveal the truth about the missing men is commendable. However, the matter should not end there and further explanation should be sought. Questions remain about how the men were picked up despite being acquitted by a trial court as well as about where they were kept. Few will be convinced by the `terror camp` story. (dawn.com)

Rule of law

There are, however, other matters that are not quite so clear. The court has been told there are no other missing persons. This raises the issue of what has become of the thousands of people Baloch nationalist groups say are missing or other victims whose families claim they were ‘picked up’ years ago. There are other issues too. (thenews.com.pk)

Fabrications and plain lies

It is not a coincidence that the intelligence agencies consider themselves above the law. After independence, it was inevitable that the over-developed state structure inherited from the British in the presence of weak political and social institutions would lead to the dominance of state institutions unaccountable to the public. The protracted authoritarian rule of Ayub Khan, Yahya Khan, Ziaul Haq and later Pervez Musharraf made them even more accustomed to acting independently, without any fear of accountability. (dailytimes.com.pk)

The not-so hidden hand

The Supreme Court has struggled patiently to make the agencies act in accordance with the law. The information provided by the agencies will hopefully be followed by cooperation on their part in locating a large number of other people who have over the years been made to disappear mysteriously. What the agencies need to realise is that the apex court only wants to ensure that the procedure of arrests is in conformity with the law of the land. (pakistantoday.com.pk)

Triumph of truth

Thus, while everyone uttered a sigh of relief at the revelation that the 11 missing persons were “safe and alive”, the submission of the MI and ISI about the SC’s jurisdiction over them removed the nagging anxiety of the general public that the government attitude of the court’s defiance was emboldening other official institutions to question its rulings as well. (nation.com.pk)