Pakistani Criminal Justice System Proves No Match for Terrorism Cases, Los Angeles Times, 28 October 2010
EXCERPT: "A country pummeled by a continual barrage of suicide bombings, assassinations and militant ambushes needs a well-oiled criminal justice system that keeps terrorists off the streets after they're nabbed and sends a signal that extremists cannot supplant law and order. Instead, the message Pakistanis get is that when it comes to terrorism cases, criminal justice in their country is hopelessly ineffective. Legal experts say militants are walking free because police investigators lack basic evidence-gathering techniques to build solid cases. Investigators eager to get terrorism investigations off their desks are also prone to framing Pakistanis on trumped-up charges. More often than not, judges see through the frame-ups and acquit the defendants. In Punjab, Pakistan's largest and wealthiest province, nearly three of every four terrorism cases in 2009 and the first six months of this year ended with acquittals, according to provincial court records. And while army offensives have dented militant activity in the restive Swat Valley and parts of the largely ungoverned tribal badlands along the Afghan border, experts say a reliable justice system buttressed by sound police work is essential to a broader containment of terrorism. 'If we don't get convictions, there will be no end to terrorism,' says Sabah Mohyuddin Khan, a lawyer and former Islamabad judge. 'Everyone should be worried about this. Unless killers are convicted, they'll have a free hand.'"
Read the full story.
Related academic article:
Terrorism in Pakistan: Incident patterns, terrorists? characteristics, and the impact of terrorist arrests on terrorism, University of Pennsylvania via the Human Security Gateway, 18 August 2010
Related reports:
Pakistan's ideological blowback, Foreign Policy in Focus via the Human Security Gateway, 29 June 2009
The Creation and Development of Pakistan's Anti-terrorism Regime, 1997-2002, Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies via the Human Security Gateway, 1 April 2004
Related posts:
Militants held in indefinite detention, 21 April 2010
Pakistan's attorney general resigns, 6 April 2010
, 31 March 2010
Swat trains community police to keep Taliban away, 24 March 2010
Court to rule on missing Pakistanis, 18 March 2010
Legal experts say militants are walking free because police investigators lack basic evidence-gathering techniques to build solid cases. Investigators eager to get terrorism investigations off their desks are also prone to framing Pakistanis on trumped-up charges. More often than not, judges see through the frame-ups and acquit the defendants. In Punjab, Pakistan's largest and wealthiest province, nearly three of every four terrorism cases in 2009 and the first six months of this year ended with acquittals, according to provincial court records. And while army offensives have dented militant activity in the restive Swat Valley and parts of the largely ungoverned tribal badlands along the Afghan border, experts say a reliable justice system buttressed by sound police work is essential to a broader containment of terrorism. "If we don't get convictions, there will be no end to terrorism," says Sabah Mohyuddin Khan, a lawyer and former Islamabad judge. "Everyone should be worried about this. Unless killers are convicted, they'll have a free hand."