Effective laws needed to punish terrorists: Nasser

ISLAMABAD: National Security Adviser Lt Gen (R) Nasser Janjua has said that new and effective laws are needed to punish terrorists posing threat to security of the country.

He expressed these views at the publication launch of International Humanitarian Law and Preventive Detention here by the Conflict Law Centre, Research Society of International Law (RSIL) in collaboration with the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC).

"There was a strong realisation after operation Rah-e-Haq that Pakistan needs new laws to prosecute and sentence terrorists," he said. Nasser Janjua said when the military started operation in Swat it had to honour human rights because it could not do with its people what was being done in the Indian Held Kashmir (IHK). He said Maulvi Fazlullah was falsely using the name of Islam and killing people but the Pakistan Army could not do any such thing. "Our Army protects the people of Pakistan from anti-state elements besides paying regard to the rights of the people," he said.

The national security adviser said he was lieutenant colonel when 9/11 happened and he got retired as lieutenant general but he still thinks about the ways to better protect human rights in case of war. Nasser Janjua said the security forces were deployed at borders but these are now also conducting operations against terrorists in various areas of the country. He noted that the Pakistan Army complied with international humanitarian law principles despite absence of legislative instruments in the beginning but later on the legal instruments such as AACPR, POPA and others became important to implement the constitutional mandate under Article 245.

Earlier, Executive Director of RSIL Jamal Aziz explained distinction between the law of peace and the law of war and noted that a conflict paradigm applies to military operations being conducted in Fata and Pata.

“From a legal perspective this paradigm is governed by international humanitarian law and Pakistan’s domestic law of war. However, there is a huge capacity gap in Pakistan when dealing with the multifaceted legal challenges arising from its counter terrorism and counter militancy efforts,” he said.