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PPO A WAY BACKWARD OR FORWARD
BY BARRISTER AMJAD MALIK
I
have been hearing a lot of arguments for and against the protection of Pakistan
legislation. Pakistan will have to decide whether it will arrest, hold,
investigate, try and convict it’s hard core terrorists in accordance with the
law, or will lawenforcement keep them
missing ultravires in the safe heavens of the FATA region. In UK a
special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) headed by a High Court Judge
and two members on the panel, are authorised to hear secret appeals
behind closed doors. They hear the appeals of foreign nationals who pose a
threat to the national security of the
country, UK’s relations with other countries and for reasons of
a political nature. Maulana Fazal ur Rehman and a
renowned scholar Zakkar Naik have been refused entry for those
purposes in the past so have many other stalwart who pose a threat to
country and/or public unrest. It includes priest terry Jones and
Gareth Wilder who attempted to burn Quran and made a
blasphemous film .The SIAC Act 1997 allowed secret trials in the
UK however, Pakistan is still undecided it has lost 40000
soldiers, and still thinking. There are
many arguments in favour of due process, fair trial and
fear of mistrust of its arbitrary use, and of course the legislation
will have a room of improvement. But, having that opportunity to set up a
system is a way forward not backward. The tenacity of the situation is visible
when USA is trying a Muslim preacher Abu Hamza on USA
soil for alleged terrorism crimes he has committed overseas and
it has already sentenced over 80 years to Dr AfiaSiddiqui a
Pakistani, who was arrested and extradited allegedly from Asia to US
court. So at least Pakistan must catch and convict its own criminals. Liberals are
running in circles and rather than addressing missing persons cases through the
law are acting as a crowd.they are opposing having any law
at all. Those are against PPO but also opposed the
acquittal of Hijrat Ullah and unless we match our words with
actions, we will never be able to convict criminals of thestate or
spies of foreign countries. Pakistan must move forward to end the status quo of
the two extremes and must learn from other western partners, in this war on
terror who introduced dozens of Acts post 9/11. Let the guilty not go
unpunished; those who cut throats and then post videos. PPO or any legislative
measure ending missing person’s fiasco is a middle ground from having
genuinemissing person’s complaints but going nowhere because of the lack
of system, infrastructure and or a law at all. And Ifthere
is a law in existence it is ineffective to protect judges, witnesses
and informers, and or mechanism of state to gather intelligence. Two dozens of
laws by the west who champions in human rights to address extremism,
intolerance and radical ideas or outfits individuals and perpetrators show
their seriousness of the issue. To me a law is the need of the time,
if Pakistan wishes to send its forces in Fata. The Terrorism
Act 2000 Section 47 which penalises possession of even terrorist
material. They have tools to penalise those who
glorify jihadi elements through legislation, however in Pakistan
Post 9/11 we talked, but introduced no legislation. I
must wonder, that three months detention is already enshrined in
the law under MPO by a District Coordination Officer so
why moan. I agree the anxiety is the way it is used and courts must
carry out anxious scrutiny properly. There is a need to move on and keep
reforming, as there is always room for improvement.The law enforcement in
the absences of a workable law use safe ground and people keep
missing as no law to empower them and no mechanism to intercept a suicide
bombers or wearer of jacket hence less operations in outlawed hubs or areas of
their refuge and HRCP and others keep advocating for civil rights and
net result is that people keep going missing. It
is a tough call but it is better to come in the middle than at the end of the
two extremes. One extreme is the law enforcement extreme and the second extreme
is the liberal extreme, and TTP roam freely in the middle. My view
purely from experience is that as there is a fine balance between
theinterest of the state vs the interest of the
individual. But if you are confronted with the enemy who does not give you
notice of exploding in a market and the reaction time is little then it
besoms a national callto safeguard the public interest. Extreme
situations require extreme measures andif one wants to cleanse FATA
from foreigners, then give your offices the necessary tools to combat
as well asnecessary legislative measures. Otherwise they will be safe from
TTP but will be up against the court martial for allegedly illegal actions. A specialist body may be
set up where if acertificate is issued by the interior Ministry that a
person is considered a threat to national security, a case is tried in that
particular court (Commission). A court or a tribunal is set up under a
vetted existing High Court Judge and or a newlyappointed ? where two
sets of hearings take place one in the open, and the second closed. Where
the lawyer and the accused are not present and only the vetted prosecutor and a
general present the case. The Accused are given a code name (a,b,c) and
they are referred at all times by their code names, and their nationality at no
point is revealed so that intelligence is not compromised. The Judge heading
the court can authorize a statement to press and on most of the open hearings
the session is conducted in a camera session, where only the accused and his
attorney are present. In the UK (SIAC) a Special Immigration
Appeals Commission was set up though the legislation in 1997, a specialist
tribunal adjudicating appeals, where a person is considered to be a threat to
national security, where most of the proceedings are conducted in camera where
all the secret evidence is presented and analyzed. In those hearings no lawyer
and or accused is present. That model has successfully been working in the
UK for the last decade and is considered Human Rights compliance, in a
mother of democracy and a land of human rights. Then why can Pakistan not have
a similar system, in order to avoid unnecessary criticism. As I have been
appearing before that commission for over 10 years, I think that Parliament,
and those stake holders must come up with a joint resolution to understand the
problem we face, and to find a solution to defeat it with a solution which is
compliant of the constitutional guarantees, and upholds the law. This is
needed to protect the public and the national security of Pakistan from the
increasing extremism, radicalization, violence and terrorists
operating in safe heavens. Funnily, we
are busy arguing whether democracy is at threat, or not or whether there is
distrust, mistrust between the government and the army as an institution. To
me, its irony of fate there is no room, capacity or issue, to have an
institutional fight, nor there be any talk of it. COD envisaged such
issues and political maturity is sowing the seeds of democracy in Pakistan,
unlike our neighbouring Bangladesh where still political opponents are at each
other's throats. It is in Pakistan’s best chance tohave
economic growth, or it may go backwards for decades again and take
our brave nation under a begging bowl.Trade with Turkey, china and opening
access to Europe visa GSP Plus initiatives to end energy crisis
are praiseworthy. They all are part and parcel to get Pakistan out of
begging bowl and thanks to the administration
of prime MinisterNawaz Sharif that his efforts are giving
dividend. Pakistan must not let anyone take them for granted, and that is
what they need to show the world. Public must support and work side by
side with its civilian leadership and let them take Pakistan forward
rather than being stuck in historical events. PMLN government if had not
been dismissed ultra constitutionally, may very
well have tried to make Pakistan as Asia's tiger as
claimed. but let bye gone be bye gone and not beat about
the bush and let the courts to decide calling spade a
spade. The
Government of Prime Minister NawazSharif has a job to do to make Pakistan
an economic power, which can feed their kids, pay for education, treat the ill
and give jobs to its youth. A country which fulfils its obligation in a
social welfare state, and can end extremism of any kind and still hold its head
high in the community of nations. In this struggle the army is part and
parcel as an institution to implement the vision of the nation, duly ratified
by the honourable elected members of the parliament and political parties.
There is no test of who is the higher lover of Pakistan, or more loyal, as we
all need the courage strength and bravery of our armed forces, add its young
and old heroes like major Aziz Bhatti, Major Tufail,
Rashid Minhas to combat the challenges Pakistan is confronted with.
The state is in the middle of a war to save keep and continue to
safeguard the country from internal and external dangers. It will have to fight
the fight, talk the talk and have dialogue where fight is not
effective. Civilian leadership honours the sacrifices made by the brave
soldiers and salute Major Shabbir Sharif Nishan eHaider and
his companions for the good name they earned, for
their family, institution and above all their country Pakistan.
The Nation is proud of theirsons of soil and this gives a
message that 200 million smart street men are able capable and energetic to do
anything, to earn the good name and respect for its country. This is what the
leadership wishes to make sure to help them achieve that goal. Join the
civilian leadership help the young and old, soldier to general, teacher,
lawyer, engineer, workers, voters of any party, supporters, officials leaders
and role models to make this country you all call Pakistan a
true Quaid e Azam andAllama Iqbal's Pakistan in
which we all take pride to live in.We must all contribute to end the
brain drain and bring our true and best colours to energise this great
nation. Similarly, military leadership also acknowledges the
contribution made by the civilian leadership of Prime Minister ZA Bhuttoo,
Benazir and Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif towards civil dispensation and
democracy by showing maturity and vision. Pakistan must
trust its police and armed forces and empower them who are laying their lives
in the line of duty and protection of the Pakistan law ,(PPO) is one
example of it so that there are no missing persons and there are no missing
suicide bomber. This is necessary so that whatever law enforcement segment does
to protect Pakistan is documented and those who oppose this bill are very well
respected for their opinion, but there are some people who oppose the acquittal
of Hijrat Ullah, and or have been criticising missing person’s cases
for over a decade without any tangible results. Pakistan must end the gossiping
through concrete steps rather than verbal speeches and TV show Protests.
Pakistani media must support the administration and report where the use of
force is disproportionate and request the courts to apply judicial scrutiny,
where law enforcement uses heavy handedness in city , as was the case
in Karachi. As the law is for three years we must carefully watch it and its implications
and fall outs, and suggest ways to reform and amend when necessary. But,
if Pakistan is to end safe heavens of extremists, mafias, smugglers
and criminal spies and elements we need to arm those who go in first in a
combat zone. Let us trust our people who are at the front risking their
lives, livelihood and future confronted with an enemy who is wearing a suicide
vest. We went into war post 9/11, but did not make befitting laws like the UK
and the USA made through the SIAC Act 1997 and the Terrorism Act 2000 in the UK
ensuring trials in quick sessions and in some cases secret trials behind closed
doors of foreign nationalsposing a threat to national security . We
need to keep the peace with the international community, and if we do not make
laws we will be stuck in the middle of the two extremes, one where
lawenforcement and agencies keep people missing, and do not trust the
system, and the other liberals, who do not wish to move an inch and give powers
to our police and other institutions and the beneficiary is those
outlawed groups who take advantage and weaken Pakistan. They come and go
and do their job without getting disturbed and get acquitted due to weaker
system. Let us make this system strong to face the modern challenges of the
21st century, I conclude by
accepting there is a fine balance between the interest of
Pakistan and the interest of those facing criminal charges of terrorism, or
anti state but the public is fully aware with the aid of media
and courts and will ensure due process and fairness to all accused
. Constitution of Pakistan 1973 also ensures basic human rights which
include due process and fair trial. The accused will be innocent until
proven guilty by a court of law. However, we must not say "Pakistan
first" in rhetoric only, we must act upon our sayings, and perform on
our promises and do what it is in the best interest of Pakistan. We must
also protect those in the line of duty, their families and those who fight and
or give information, become witnesses or adjudicate cases of those criminals
involved in heinous crimes such as terrorism and extremism. Let God be with us
all, those who are at the front line risking their lives. May God give patience
to critics who never visited FATA or any war area in the last 10 years
and still claim to be champions of war analysis, as that is an injustice with a
soldier on theground. Barrister
Amjad Malik, is a Chair of the Association of Pakistani lawyers (UK) and has
done LLM in national security law from UK 14
April 2014
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