Hope of justice with insecure prosecutors

The success rate of the cases that brought to trial in Pakistan, where militancy is rampant, is unfathomable. Anti-Terrorism courts in Rawalpindi, the neighboring city of federal capital, upheld an acquittal rate of 60 per cent.

It is worth highlighting here that the cases comprised of wide range of topics including murder of Polish engineer and a suicide attack on Rescue 15 in Islamabad. One will get shock to know that the very reason of the unsuccessful trails is insecurity of prosecutors.

Prosecuting officers were of the view that they and their families are open to terrors from all fronts that makes their duties quite difficult. They informed that the law enforcement agencies, particularly the police have been failed to protect them.

A news item published in the media was enough to understand the situation. It reported that the Punjab Persecution Department, despite struggle of several months, failed to provide security to its officers in Rawalpindi.

The authorities made several efforts in this regard, even Punjab Prosecutor General held communications with high ups, but the situation remain unchanged.

This is why so many cases of militancy and terrorism are never convicted in Pakistan. The report quoting one officer stated that they failed to perform their duties in such circumstances. Personal protection over jobs helps the militants to get acquittals.

They lonely are not liable in this regard. A series of examples are in open to understand their positions in the particular cases.

Without any doubt, the militancy and terrorism will not reduce in the country until prosecution’s success rate starts increasing. It is really a point of concern for authorities fighting against terrorism.

CPO Rawalpindi was also true in his stance that the police department has not had capability to provide security each and every prosecutor. He was of the opinion that other prosecutors of the province will also make demands if they started deploying personal staff with the judicial officers.

A compromise is need of the hours if we really want to curb this evil from our society. We cannot defeat militancy without building a successful prosecution department.

Yet a compromise is urgently required. Reducing crime and terrorism is largely about building a successful prosecution, as without it lawbreakers will continue to operate with impunity.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=8654

Posted by Faisal Farooq on Jan 10 2012. Filed under National, Opinion, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry