THE acquittals last August should have jolted the prosecution and judicial systems into conducting an urgent review of the traumatic episode.

Yet on Monday, a bench of the Lahore High Court ordered the release on bail of the five suspects who were acquitted last year of conspiring to assassinate Benazir Bhutto.

The five acquitted men were kept in prison through a number of short-term executive and judicial orders.

In February, a review board comprising three justices of the Lahore High Court acceded to the Punjab government’s request to keep in state custody the five men for a further 60 days.

Before that, a 90-day detention request had been acceded to by the review board in November 2017.

The review board proceedings were held in camera, and each time, police were able to produce enough evidence to convince the judges on the review board that the continued detention of the five men was in the public interest.

Inevitably, however, courts tire of repeated requests to detain terrorism suspects under public safety laws and bail is usually granted.

The failure is not of the judges who order the release of the individuals detained, but of the prosecution and the overall judicial system.

Governments relying on archaic public safety laws to detain terrorism suspects is itself an abuse of the judicial system.

Yet, the Benazir Bhutto case was no ordinary matter and the iconic leader’s assassination shook the foundations of the country.

While myriad failures of the executive and the criminal justice system allow many an accused to go scot-free, in the judicial process against individuals accused of involvement in a crime that reshaped the country’s politics, a higher standard of professionalism and commitment is required.

Surely, rather than simply allowing the suspects to walk free on bail and possibly return to militant activities, the state ought to have explored more thoroughly the legal options to bring to a satisfactory conclusion the trials of all suspects in the Bhutto assassination.

Perhaps, then, this is an ideal matter for Chief Justice Saqib Nisar to look into.

The chief justice has vigorously pursued all manner of lawbreakers in recent months and has also expressed a desire to put right some of the structural flaws in the justice system in the country.

There are few cases as important as the several related trials of individuals suspected of involvement in or covering up evidence of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, and surely a high-profile intervention could jolt the state and the judicial system into taking necessary and positive action.

Judicial intervention at the highest level could also demonstrate that the superior judiciary is serious about improving the performance of the criminal justice system and is willing to nudge the state in the right direction.

The country deserves to know the facts of the Benazir Bhutto assassination.

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2018