Military
Courts are Essential to Eliminate Terrorism By Sajjad
Shaukat (JR125SS19)
Pakistan’s armed forces have
successfully broken the backbone of the foreign-backed terrorists by the
successful military operations Zarb-e-Azb and Radd-ul-Fasaad which have also
been extended to other parts of the country, including Balochistan. While,
Pakistan’s primarily intelligence agency, ISI has broken the network of these
terrorist groups by capturing several militants, while thwarting a number of
terror attempts. But, in the recent past and
during the election-campaign of 2019, blasts in Balochistan and other regions
of the country showed that the US-led India, Afghanistan and Israel have again
started acts of sabotage especially to weaken Pakistan and to damage the China-Pakistan
Economic Corridor (CPEC) which is part of China’s One Belt, One Road (OBOR)
initiative or BRI. Washington and New Delhi has already opposed this project. Foiled terror attack on the Chinese consulate in
Karachi on November 23, last year was part of the same scheme. In
another terror-related incident, on the same day, at least 35 people were
killed and 50 wounded in a blast in Kalaya
area of lower Orakzai district in Hangu.
It shows that military courts are
essential for complete elimination of terrorism from the country. In this
respect, in the recent past, the law ministry informed a National Assembly
standing committee that summary for second extension in military courts has
been forwarded to the federal cabinet for approval, as the two-year term of the
courts will expire in March 2019.
The military
courts were allowed to try civilians accused of terrorism in January 2015, soon
after a terrorist attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar (APS) in
December 2014. In the attack, 144 people, mostly children were martyred by the
banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan.
Military courts were given a
two-year constitutional cover as both houses of the parliament passed the 21st
constitutional amendment. The courts
remained dysfunctional from January 7, 2017 due to expiry of the two-year
constitutional cover—till March 2017, when the military courts were extended
for another two years by the parliament.
On
December 13, last year, Defence Minister Pervez Khattak had informed the
National Assembly that the military authorities had to decide 185 cases of
terrorists in three months—till March.
A leading newspaper of Pakistan
reported on January 25, 2018, “The opposition
parties are working to come out with a combined response on the extension of
the constitutional amendment, continuing the powers of the military courts…a
senior opposition leader told…everyone is willing to join hands to become a
formidable force as they are pushed into a scenario where they have no other
option…in case the opposition decides to support the extension as one force, it
will seek a foolproof timeframe to enable the criminal justice system in a
phased manner to be in a position to speedily proceed against the
terrorists…During out talks with the government side, we will make concrete
proposals to improve the civilian justice system so that there is no need of
military courts after some time…Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader
Rana Sanaullah told this correspondent…Our effort will to make our suggestions part
of the constitutional amendment so that there is no subsequent deviation from
them…One proposal is that the opposition should agree to just one-year
extension of military courts. Initially…A PML-N source told that there were two
opinions in the party which have been discussed. One view is that the military
courts should be extended while the other runs against it and stresses that
when there has been significant fall in terrorist activities because of the
concerted operations of the law enforcement agencies, there is no further need
to have the military courts in place…leader of the opposition Shahbaz Sharif
was conscious of the publicly aired opinion of the Pakistan People’s Party
(PPP) against the constitutional amendment. He said that at the same time, the
PML-N president wants the opposition parties to show harmony on the extension
of military courts.”
However, there is a
co-relationship of military courts and war against terrorism. In this
connection, word “opportunism” is very renown in world of Politics. Opportunism
is the conscious policy and practice of taking advantage of circumstances with
little regard for principles or with what the consequences are for others. In
the present circumstances, opposition parties are not opposing extension in the
term of military courts, but making efforts to achieve a bargaining position.
Pakistan Army was not seeking extension in military courts for itself, but in
the larger interest of masses in order to ensure peace in the country. PPP
leader Asif Ali Zardari along with her sister are facing very serious cases
including plundering the national exchequer. Although they seems to be in favour
of military courts, but currently, they want to use it as a bargain chip to get
all the corruption charges from them, removed. Same is true in case of the
leaders of PML-N—the former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif, including some other leaders of the party,
who are facing corruption-related cases in the Supreme Court of Pakistan and
the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), as Sharif family also wants to make
controversy over the extension of the military court so as to use the same for
bargaining purposes in relation to their cases.
Nevertheless, the political
leaders of these parties forgot that on January 2, 2015, besides the chiefs of
other political parties and military top officials agreed on a draft of
legislative measures which paved the way for establishment of special military
trial courts. It was unanimously agreed that the 20 points (National Action Plan)
enunciated in the All Parties Conference (APC) Resolution of December 24, 2014
was being acted upon—the bill as 22nd (Constitutional) Amendment was enforced
soon after its approval from the parliament. The special military courts had
been established and the ruthless terrorists facing death penalty were being
hanged.
These political elements are reminded
that the National Action Plan (NAP) includes important points—execution of
convicted terrorists, establishment of special trial courts, ensuring no armed
militias are allowed to function in the country, strengthening and activation
of National Counter-Terrorism Authority (NACTA), countering hate speech and
extremist material, choking financing for terrorists and terrorist
organizations, ensuring against re-emergence of proscribed organizations,
establishing and deploying a dedicated counter-terrorism force, taking
effective steps against religious persecution, registration and regulation of madrassas
(Religious seminaries), ban on glorification of terrorism and terrorists
organization through print and electronic media, FATA reforms, dismantling
communication networks of terrorist organizations, measures against abuse of
internet and social media for terrorism, Zero tolerance for militancy in
Punjab, taking the ongoing operation in Karachi to its logical conclusion,
Balochistan reconciliation, dealing firmly with sectarian terrorists, policy to
deal with the issue of Afghan refugees, revamping and reforming the criminal
justice system.
These hostile entities should
know that corruption is the essence of terrorism. Hence, people want that this
menace must be eliminated from the country as part of overall war against
terrorism.
In this connection, without any discrimination,
several persons, politicians and government servants involved in corruption
have been arrested in various parts of the country.
As regards of madrassas, in 2015,
a meeting of military, political and religious seminaries had vital importance.
All the participants reached a mutual consensus. While assuring unconditional
support to NAP, representatives of madrassas, Ulema (Religious scholars) said
that culprits and black sheep in religious institutes should be dealt with iron
hands. They agreed that “Pakistan is our motherland. We on our own have to
protect its integrity.” They also agreed for reforms in the religious schools
through introduction of new curriculum, registration, and funding process.
Earlier, the chief ministers agreed to all the proposals put forth by the
interior minister regarding important issues including regularization of
affairs of NGOs.
It is noteworthy that in October
2018, Prime Minister Imran Khan made a pledge to resolve the issues of
madrassas on priority and accordingly held a meeting with top leadership of all
the federations of the madrassas in Pakistan to develop understanding and trust
for this purpose. Now, the unveiling of National Education Framework indicates
that the government is serious about the madrassas issues. Hopefully, the
Ittehad-e-Tanzeemat-e-Madaris Pakistan (ITMP), the
representative body of all the administrative setups of madrassas, will fully
cooperate with the government this time and an inclusive education system will
come in place.
The demand and need for madrassas
reforms have always been felt by the religious scholars and Dars-e-Nazami was
itself prepared as a reformative measure 300 years ago. It is outdated and it
cannot meet the challenges of modern education system. The scientific subjects
and vocational/ technical training must be integrated with the religious
curriculum of madrassas to uplift them in standards. As madrassas are catering
the educational needs of 3.5 million students, according to some estimates, the
modernization of their curriculum on scientific lines will be beneficial for
everyone including the administrative bodies of madrassas.
Notably, according to the report
of National Action Plan (NAP)-June 14, 2018, “Military courts in Pakistan have
sentenced 186 terrorists to death and issued verdicts for more than 300
terrorism-related cases. Another
milestone achieved by NAP was strengthening of National Counter Terrorism
Authority (NACTA)-an anti-terrorism institution established by the parliament
in 2013 with sole mandate of countering extremism and terrorism in country.
Regrettably, it remained un-effective until it was made part of NAP. Following
the zero tolerance policy after the APS attack, NACTA pursued its mandate and
jurisdiction with unparallel vigour and scribed the policies addressing the
state’s goals in countering terrorism. A special budget of Rs. 1545.5 million
was allocated in 2016-17, and in 2017- 2018 Rs. 1643.019 million was demanded,
however only Rs. 530.839 have been released. A Joint Intelligence Directorate
has also been staffed in NACTA for the purpose of enhancing coordination and
intelligence sharing mechanism among the provinces.3 NAP has also taken a
rigorous stance in dealing with the matter of sectarian violence, religious
intolerance and extremism. As a result, 1373 cases were registered after 2014
regarding hate speech and publication of literature inciting religious
sentiments. Around 2,566 persons were arrested against 1373 cases and 70 shops
were sealed. Moreover, 19,895 cases have been registered pertaining to misuse
of loudspeakers, 20,679 persons were arrested and 8,759 pieces of equipment
have been confiscated.”
Nonetheless, in order to
dismantle the terror-financing networks, eradication of corruption is an
important part of Pakistan’s National Action Plan, while military courts are
also essential to eliminate terrorism from the country. Hence, instead of
making these courts controversial, the members of the mainstream political
parties who are sitting in the parliament must give approval to the extension
of military courts with the sole aim of elimination of terrorism from the
country, which is demand of every patriot Pakistani.
