One by one all the witnesses to the Wali Khan Babar murder case were eliminated. The only witness to the Sabeen Mehmud murder case also got killed. In between these two murder cases, occurring in 2011 and 2015 respectively, a number of witnesses to other high profile cases also got murdered or retracted their statements in fear of reprisal. Sadly, the law failed to protect key witnesses to high profile murder and terrorism cases. According to available statistics, from 2013 onwards, security agencies arrested approximately 1500 alleged terrorists in Sindh alone. More than 1000 of them have been termed as jet black terrorists. Even though these terrorists have proven links with the most notorious terrorist outfits, they couldn’t face conviction. However, on 18thSeptember 2013, the Sindh Assembly passed a key bill to fill the gap that existed between the arrest and conviction of convicts, termed as the ‘Witness Protection Bill, 2013.’
This law has been termed as a necessity and a key tool to clamp down on terrorist outfits in the most effective manner. However, despite its unanimous approval by the Sindh Assembly, no progress was witnessed in this regard.
It took the government almost three years to prepare draft rules for the witness protection law. Under the draft rules, a witness protection programme (WPP) must be initiated to provide protection to witnesses, lawyers, judges and even complainants. The law aimed to provide protection to witnesses and their families, and to facilitate or encourage them to provide key evidence in various cases. Under the law, the witness could conceal their identity by wearing a mask, changing voice or even allowing call conferencing. The law also allows financial assistance to the witness and their family as a means of providing reasonable livelihood in case the witness gets injured or killed during the process. Furthermore, the police department could also hire safe houses under the WPP.
Under the law, a Witness Protection Advisory Board (WPAB) will also be established, which will serve to provide guidance and advice to the WPP. The board will consist of the Home Secretary as the chairman; the Secretary Law, the Secretary Finance, the Advocate General, the Inspector General of Police, the Inspector General of Prisons and the Additional Inspector General, Counterterrorism Department as members. The AIG, CTD will also serve as the Secretary of the Board.
Finally, after a hiatus of almost four years, the Sindh government has stepped up its efforts to establish the Witness Protection Unit (WPU). A formal request for a budget of 75 million rupees has been sent to the concerned authorities. In addition, the process of hiring a consultant for the newly formed WPU has also been initiated.
Sadly, it took the provincial government several years to realise that witness protection is a necessity in the province. The reason, also described above, was the lack of conviction. Even though the law enforcement agencies strive hard to arrest hardened criminals, they go scot free or are not convicted for the crimes they commit. This doesn’t mean at all that they leave no trail of their crimes. They commit crimes with impunity, only because they are sure of the loopholes that exist in our laws and due to the fact that no one dares to provide evidence.
The Sindh Witness Protection Act, 2013 serves as a precedent to other provinces as well, as no such law exists either at the provincial or the federal level in our country. However, there is a need of implementation of existing laws instead of passing toothless new laws. It is a welcome development that the Sindh government is finally showing its seriousness in pursuing witness protection as an important milestone that came forward as a result of an increase in crime rate and terrorist incidents in the province.
It is likely expected that the WPU established under the Witness Protection Act, 2013 would prove to be instrumental in increasing the conviction rate of hardened criminals and a subsequent decrease in various heinous crimes and terrorist activities.
The writer is a development consultant. She tweets at @GulminaBilal and can be reachedat [email protected]