Interior ministry sifts terror cases fit for trial in mly courts

ISLAMABAD: An intense scrutiny of cases against terrorists, which were received from the provincial apex committees, is being done at the Interior Ministry before referring them to the military courts.
“Had such examination not been elaborate and severe, the Interior Ministry would have inundated the special courts with hundreds of cases by now,” a senior official told The News.He said that it was not necessary and mandatory for the Interior Ministry to forward each and every case, communicated to it by any apex committee, to the military courts. “We have developed a foolproof mechanism to closely study the cases to reach a conclusion.”
The official said that the Interior Ministry would keep handing over the cases to the special courts that it would find fit for trial.Thus far, more than 1,000 cases against alleged hardcore terrorists have been received by the Interior Ministry from the apex committees.
The official said that these bodies have also been intimating to the Ministry the available evidence and proofs against the accused and their profiles. Obviously, the lists of their crimes are also forwarded.
The apex committees consist of senior officials of the military and civil administration including top officers of police and other law enforcement agencies. They were constituted as part of the National Action Plan (NAP) against terrorism. The official was sure that contrary to the common belief, the military courts would not rush to judgments, and it was not essential that all the accused tried by them would be convicted.
“Even in the prevailing alarming situation, our utmost effort will be to meet the requirements of justices to the maximum possible extent so that complaints about miscarriage of justice don’t arise,” he said.
The official said that those arraigned by special courts would be entitled to hire lawyers for their defence. The proceedings will be in camera, and it will be up to the courts whether or not to make their hearings public. This is how this kind of courts usually function, he pointed out.
He said that the cases would be referred in installments. For the moment, nine courts have been established, but their number will be increased in view of the workload.There have been demands from different people every now and then to forward to the military courts certain cases of heinous crimes like gruesome molestation and killing of minor girls. But the official made it clear that only terrorists would be tried by these forums and no other case would be handed over to them. He said the cases covered by the amendments in the Pakistan Army Act (PAA) fell within the purview of the military courts.
The amendments in the Constitution and the PAA, extending the scope of the military courts, were approved by the parliament on January 6. Since then, preparations are being made to kick-start trials.
In the normal justice system, police register cases on their own or on complaints of aggrieved parties. The force arrest, investigate and prosecute the accused persons in the relevant courts. It is for the judges, obviously a forum different from the accusing police, to convict or release the accused. This is the fundamental part of the justice system worldwide. No one institution is allowed to be investigator, judge, jury and prosecutor at the same time.

In the instant case, the army will arrest, interrogate, prosecute and try the alleged terrorists. The premier intelligence agencies will play a great role in the process. The extraordinary measure has been taken to meet the exceptional situation. The army’s JAG (Judge Advocate General) branch of the military will be too busy fighting in the military courts for sentencing of the terrorists.
The official said that the defence authorities would serve as a post office in sending cases to the special courts, as the actual decision to refer them would be taken by the Interior Ministry.He said it was difficult to spell out any timeframe following which these courts will hand down rulings, but believed that a case may take just a few weeks. He said that the basic objective behind establishing the military courts was to have speedy trials, which was not possible in the ordinary judicial bodies.The official said the role of the civilian institutions or agencies like police will be non-existent in this process unless the military authorities seek their assistance.