During the last six years, 1,964 alleged terrorists were acquitted by different trial courts of the country due to lack of evidence against them. Out of these, 722 rejoined terrorist groups and 12 of them were killed in drone attacks in Fata or in operations carried out by local security forces.

In terrorism cases the suspects are often acquitted due to unavailability of direct evidence, said senior police officers and prosecutors while talking to Dawn, adding the accomplices of alleged terrorists, including the masterminds, planners and facilitators, were usually arrested with the help of international mobile equipment identity (IMEI) without proper recovery of explosives, maps and weapons to establish the allegation against them.

Eyewitnesses are usually not available in cases of terrorism, thus the investigators take help from circumstantial evidence and mobile record to establish the case, they said. Furthermore, if any eyewitnesses are available, they refuse to appear before the court since there are no standard operating procedures (SOPs) to protect them. The senior officers said in various western and European countries, even in India, there were laws to protect the witnesses of terrorism and organised crimes.

No such protection is available for the prosecutors and judicators of the anti-terrorism courts in the country under any law or legislation, and they often receive threats from terrorists to get a decision in their favour, they added.

Keeping this in view, the Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan, along with judges of superior judiciary, prosecution departments and police, is making efforts to design a victim, prosecutor, adjudicator and court protection law and make a request to parliament for its approval. In this regard, a delegation of judges from the Supreme Court and high courts visited United Kingdom in March to study witness protection, court and judicial security with special emphasis on cases involving acts of terrorism.

In his remarks in a report on the visit, Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan of Supreme Court, who was part of the delegation, stated: “We realised, perhaps for the first time, how important witness protection is,” said officials close to the development.

The fact is that witness protection is one of the most crucial issues in our criminal jurisprudence because it is the testimony of the witnesses which culminates in convocation or acquittal of the accused. If witnesses do not come forth to give evidence due to fear or any other impediment, the whole criminal justice system is likely to collapse, he added in his remarks.

Moreover, he said, the witnesses feign ignorance due to lack of protection. Even if they do muster up the courage to give evidence, their strength gets petered down by the time the case reaches the courts. In cases where they have no option but to appear in the court, they make substantial concessions in favour of the accused to save their own skin, which invariably results in the defendant’s acquittal.

The legislature needs to take stock of the situation and pass laws in this regard. Not only that, severe punishment should also be given to persons threatening or preventing witnesses from giving evidence, he said.

In his recommendations, Justice Khan stated that lawyers, jurists, legislators and those heading the investigations, along with security agencies, need to join their resources to develop ingenious ways of curbing this menace.

He suggested improving security arrangements in all courts throughout the country and developing a secure computer-based solution to record all threats and advice given by security agencies. He added that the anti-terrorism and criminal courts should be relocated to high security premises, away from civil and family courts, to limit and monitor the persons entering and exiting the premises. Similarly, he said, these courts should be moved closer to high security prisons to prevent prisoners from escaping while being transferred to the court.

All serious crime and terrorism cases should be centralised to one highly secure court, adjacent to the prison premises. This, he said, should be coupled with inclusion of highly skilled, focused and trained members of security forces to investigate these cases in order to prevent threats and influence from affecting the investigations.

A flexible witness protection programme needs to be placed in Pakistan, which can be tailored according the circumstances out of the jurisdiction. Moreover, technology needs to be acquired to allow enforcement of witness anonymity and protection measures in courts.

Extreme protection for the witnesses, he said, may include relocating them to a different part of the country and, if required, provision of a pseudo-identity, modification of voice, and the use of a screen or curtain to shield the witnesses.

Published in Dawn, June 30th, 2014