Uncovering Truth about the Missing Persons
By Sajjad Shaukat
One the one hand, anti-Pakistan foreign elements have accelerated their conspiracy against Pakistan to complete their hidden agenda by supporting subversive attacks inside the country through their affiliated militant groups. On the other hand, they follow the blame game of Indo-Israeli lobbies which are well-penetrated in the US-led European NGOs, human rights organizations and media, and leave no stone unturned in distorting the image of Pakistan by manipulating any issue. Unfortunately, without taking cognizance of reality, some internal entities of Pakistan also speak in the tone of external elements.
In this regard, the case of missing persons is being exploited by domestic and foreign media, deriving vigor from International Commission of Jurists, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and by observance of International Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearances.
The anti-Pakistan forces are also trying to strengthen the case against Pakistan through a premeditated narrative that the government of Pakistan has not made any worthwhile efforts to end illegal abductions, providing justice and compensation to the concerned families. They also propagate that government is either complicit or powerless to stop the intelligence and law-enforcing agencies from abductions. Some propagandists persistently make noise that intervention of the Supreme Court of Pakistan about the missing persons has been disregarded at the cost of contempt of court. Such propaganda contents on their face value may appear convincing, but the truth lies much below the surface of misinformation.
Although every Pakistani including personnel of the intelligence and law-enforcing agencies feel sympathy with the concerned families and the disappeared persons, yet we need to uncover truth about the missing persons. Unfortunately, the so-called victims are involved in terrorism due to perplexed and mystified chaos created by the US intervention in Afghanistan.
While, majority of the missing persons have been killed in bomb blasts, target killings, ethnic and sectarian violence in various places of Pakistan, arranged by American CIA, Indian RAW and Israeli Mossad and their supported militants outfits, particularly Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). In case of Balochistan, everyone knows that Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and another group, Jundollah (God’s soldiers) which have been fighting for secession of the province gets logistic support from CIA and RAW. Their militants kidnapped and killed many innocent people and the security personnel in the province, while claiming responsibility in this respect. And since 2001, a majority of Pakistanis also left for Afghanistan for Jihad purposes, without informing their families, while many people joined the Jihad groups.
It is a challenge for the whole nation that various terrorist organizations like TTP, BLA, Jundollah, Lashkar-i-Janghvi, Lashkar-e-Islam, Sipah-i-Sahaba and some similar organizations have felt pride in murdering the innocent people and killing the personnel of the security forces including those of the intelligence and law-enforcing agencies.
No doubt, Pakistan’s law-enforcing agencies and intelligence organizations which are well-prepared in coping with terrorism are engaged in identifying and locating the terrorist networks and their support-bases including informers and accomplices, but were discouraged as their actions were being challenged through courts of law regarding the validity and legality of their decisions. The insurgents’ lawyers availed the opportunity by indicating procedural penal flaws. Thus many terrorists were freed by the courts due to lack of solid evidence in legal terms, though reality of their subversive activities existed.
Fight against terrorism envisages collection and cross checking of information, having intelligence value. The efficiency of the intelligence and law-enforcing agencies gets adversely affected as courts’ press on the case of disappeared persons involved in terrorism. Owing to this practice, efficiency of law-enforcing agencies drops to zero level, giving a greater setback to war against terrorism and making the concerned official insecure in face of judicial grilling.
In legal perspective, law-enforcing and intelligence agencies are faced with the dilemma of protecting the witnesses. The terrorists are not only well-equipped, fully trained and skilled to use lethal weapons, and pose serious threat to these security agencies, judges, prosecution lawyers and other state functionaries, but also to the witnesses required to provide evidence in the court of law.
When terrorists under custody are released by the court because of judicial discourse, they join their main terrorist networks, thereby strengthening terrorist groups. While, the cause of terrorists get glorified at the cost of courts and the security agencies which are being discouraged. And, consequently, this ‘new style war’ turns in favor of terrorists instead of law-enforcing and intelligence agencies which may suffer more in the hands of terrorists.
However, Pakistan is victim of terrorism and is committed to fight this menace with full vigor and sincerity. Therefore, government of Pakistan, the intelligence and law-enforcing agencies are on the same page in war against terrorism. In this context, Operation Zarb-e-Azb is a case in point. It is noteworthy that for the last few months, Pakistan’s Armed Forces are successfully obtaining their objectives in North Waziristan Agency (NWA) through this military operation against the terrorists who had challenged the writ of the state, and had frightened the entire nation by their terror-acts. They have broken the networks and backbone of these ruthless militants. Besides, the Armed Forces are also engaged in coping with subversive activities in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and other parts of the country including tribal areas and cross-border infiltration from Afghanistan’s side.
Nevertheless, international Human, Rights Commissions and outfits collect data without considering domestic ground realities which present the candid truth. In order to address the truth of missing persons, the legal system of Pakistan must be reformed to provide protection to witnesses, prosecutors and judges. Otherwise, making noise at local and international media will further distort the image of Pakistan. And the issue will keep haunting the government, intelligence and law-enforcing agencies, and the impartial Human Rights Organizations, while the anti-Pakistan propaganda will keep the entire Pakistani nation divided so as to achieve the sinister designs of foreign entities at the cost of the country.
Email: sajjad_logic@yahoo.com
