LAHORE - At a time the government is trying to complete the constitutional formalities to extend the term of military courts for another two years to effectively deal with terrorism cases, the anti-terrorism courts of Punjab, which have been in the field since 1997, have failed to decide the cases within the timeline set by the law.

Information gathered by The Nation shows that as many as 609 cases are lying pending with the anti-terrorism courts (ATCs) of Punjab and some of them have been pending for about four years.

There are total 15 ATCs in Punjab: four in Lahore, two in Multan, two in Rawalpindi, two in Gujranwala, one in Bahawalpur, one in DG Khan, one in Sargodha, one in Faisalabad and one in Sahiwal.

ATCs in Lahore remain on the top in terms of pending cases, with over 130 cases which are yet to be decided, said the sources. They said at least 20 to 35 cases are pending with other courts. One court was recently established in Sahiwal.

One of the oldest cases with ATCs of Lahore is the case of prisoner Shafqat Nazir’s murder at judicial lockup of Lahore’s sessions court which has been pending since 2012.

The maintainability of private complaint of Pakistan Awami Tehreek was decided after more than a year. The court allowed trial of police officials and other officials over charges of killing 14 people and leaving 100 others injured in Model Town incident in 2014.

Section 19 (7) of Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 says “the court shall on taking cognizance of a case, proceed with the trial from day to day and shall decide the case within seven working days failing which an application may be made to the Administrative Judge of the High Court concerned for appropriate directions for expeditious disposal of the case to meet the ends of justice,”.

Because of the spike in terrorist activities, the government also launched Operation Zarb-e-Azab which continued till the retirement of former army chief Raheel Sharif. The incumbent Army Chief General Qamar Bajwa has launched Operation Radd-ul Fassad to eliminate terrorists from the country.

Talking to The Nation, senior lawyer Abid Hassan Manto said the failure of the ATCs was result of the collective failure of the system.

“When the police are not on the right track, when the Executive is corrupt then how one can expect that under these circumstances the anti-terrorism courts will work effectively,” Manto said.

He also said, “In Pakistan, the tradition is that we focus on a particular issue and ignore the collective change.” The ATCs have failed because of a number of reasons, but only the judges were blamed while all other aspects and weaknesses of the system were ignored. The success of ATCs was a collective responsibility, especially of law enforcement agencies, prosecution, and the judiciary, Mr Minto said.

Azhar Siddique advocate said the pending cases with anti-terrorism courts are evidence that they have lost the purpose of their existence. But the main reason for their failure is that the law under which these courts were established failed to provide a clear definition of terrorism. “Unfortunately, terrorism has not been distinctly defined anywhere in the world,” he added.

Because of this very reason, many cases which could be sent to other courts were thrust into the ATCs, burdening them to unbearable limits, he said.

“The government either should increase the strength of anti-terrorism courts or amend the law under which these courts are working so that only cases of ‘real terrorism’ could be sent to these courts,” said Azhar Sidduque.

He quoted “the case of Amatul Saut’ in which, he said, the accused were set free because of the lack of evidence. He said Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) was registering mostly fake cases and showing fake recoveries to show its performance,” The lawyer said that an overall and comprehensive change is required to fight against terrorism.

On March 18, LHC senior Judge Muhammad Yawar Ali said that 14 ATCs in Punjab had completed trial of 200 cases during the current year. Last year, these courts decided 1,460 cases, he further said.

He said unfortunately, the investigation officers do not fulfil their responsibilities despite their being ‘a backbone’ in terrorism cases.

He expressed these views while addressing a workshop held at Punjab Judicial Academy in connection with case management plan for ATCs, protection of witnesses and working of forensic laboratory.

Justice Abdul Sami Khan of the LHC, who is also admin judge of Punjab Anti-Terrorism Court, also spoke on the occasion. He said case management plan was being introduced at ATCs of Punjab to provide timely justice to the people, which was a big challenge for them. The judge said they would categorise the cases and put the terrorism cases on priority for their timely disposal.