Daily Times

Justice for little Zainab has been delivered. Or has it? An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) awarded the man who confessed the brutal crimes committed against the seven-year-old a total of four death sentences: for kidnapping, rape and murder. He was also sentenced to life imprisonment as well as being fined for performing an unnatural act with a minor. And for desecrating human remains he also faces an additional seven years in prison.

For the family, nothing short of a public execution will do. They believe this will act as a deterrent to others. But as we know from Saudi Arabia’s experience, this will solve nothing. We commend the law enforcement agencies for acting swiftly to apprehend guilty party; while noting that this only happened after the media and civil society took up the issue. Though now the judge has sentenced Imran Ali — we need to take a deep breath and decide what sort of country we wish to be.

And this means starting with our criminal justice system. DNA from Ali is said to have matched that taken from seven other minor girls who were abducted and sexually abused in the same area. This naturally begs the question as to whether or not he will also be tried for their murders. And then there is the matter of the defendant’s defence counsel reportedly informing the judge that he would not be able to represent Imran Ali given his confession; which he had already given on the very first day of trial. But above and beyond all that — we have to ask if the higher judiciary is so weak that cases involving the rape and murder of little girls or the lynching to death of a young man on false blasphemy charges are now routinely presented before ATCs. This is the reintroduction of the death penalty for civilians by another name. And represents yet another instance of keeping Parliament out of the loop.

Yet elsewhere, the Supreme Court has fared no better. It opted to award former SSP Rao Anwar protective bail instead of ordering his arrest for his alleged role in the extra-judicial killing of, among others, a young Pashtun man. And then he failed to present himself before the court. This, sadly, smacks of selective justice. Surely, if anyone is to go before an ATC it should be those who may or may not have broken their pledge to keep the citizenry safe.

Thus in light of the seemingly piecemeal approaches to justice that Pakistan has witnessed in recent times — we urge Parliament takes up the issue for debate. That, after all, is the job of our lawmakers.  *

Published in Daily Times, February 18^th 2018.