LAHORE: High pendency of anti-terrorism cases against 667 proclaimed offenders, including those belonging to the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), has become the Augean stables for the anti-terrorism courts (ATCs) in Punjab as the law enforcers are finding it hard to arrest the ‘terrorists’.

The alleged terrorists, including the members of the militant organisations, local handlers, facilitators and the 4th schedulers, are at large and they have been declared proclaimed offenders (POs).

This issue surfaced in a recent ‘official report’ that shows a large number of ‘terrorists’ wanted in cases who could not be arrested.

Prepared by the Punjab police, the report reviewed the province-wide crime situation, the registered cases and those pending before the ATCs.

High pendency of cases, arrests big challenges to police

The official report shared that out of the total 667 POs, 484 were those wanted in the cases registered against them under the anti-terrorism laws. Of the 484 cases, several FIRs were also lodged against the leaders and the workers of the TLP during their violent protest demonstrations in Punjab last year.

The Lahore police had lodged 78 cases under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), Gujranwala region 95 cases, Sheikhupura 27, Faisalabad 65, Rawalpindi 30, Sargodha 19, Multan 14, DG Khan 85, Bahawalpur 69 while Sargodha region police had lodged two cases on terrorism charges.

Earlier, a meeting chaired by Senior Puisne Judge of Lahore High Court Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmad Khan had expressed serious concerns on the number of pending cases in the ATCs and the POs.

According to the official figures, the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) has to arrest 183 POs, the terrorists, wanted in the cases. Many of them belonged to the internationally banned terrorist organisations, including the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan and ISIS.

The official figures surfaced at a time when the country has witnessed a new wave of terrorism.

Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmad, who was newly designated admin judge of Punjab anti-terrorism courts, had particularly expressed his serious concerns at the pending cases related to the TLP in various ATCs.

“The pendency of such cases must not be left unattended,” reads the Punjab Police report while quoting the senior judge of the LHC.

It said the judge had directed the additional IG CTD Punjab and the prosecutor general to formulate a policy for disposal of cases against the TLP. He also issued instructions for taking measures for safety of presiding officers and rotation of police guards attached with them.

The officers were directed to take necessary measures to improve the mode of investigation and utilise the sources to arrest the POs, according to the police report.

The CTD Punjab spokesperson says that in the last four months, the CTD has conducted 619 intelligence-based operations (IBOs) and arrested 76 suspects against whom 56 FIRs were lodged.

He says the department has conducted 7,250 combing operations in which 315,826 suspects were interrogated. The law enforcement agency was also doing technical-cum-intelligence surveillance of 1,468 persons enlisted in the 4th Schedule of ATA-1997. During the same period, the CTD Punjab issued 31 threat alerts to other provinces to take immediate preventive measures to disrupt the terrorist plans, he said.

A police spokesperson says that during the TLP protest, 12 cases were registered by the CTD, out of which three cases were decided by the ATCs while the remaining cases were being actively followed up for prosecution. He claimed that the CTD was proactively playing its role to eradicate terrorism not only from Punjab but also from the country.

“Punjab is now less vulnerable to terrorism as compared to other provinces’, the spokesperson for the CTD said.

Published in Dawn, February 14th, 2022