Abysmal rate of terror convictions in Pak a worry

Pakistan, like any other country has to deal with a dynamic environment. Today it has to contend with an unstable political spectrum and complex economic issues like the looming debt trap. Keen to project itself internationally as a victim of terrorism, it is engaged in the flagging war against terror.

However, the war against terror aside, the rate of convictions in terror-related cases in the country have been abysmal.

An Associated Press review found no convictions in the 20 largest and most high-profile terror attacks of the last three years.
Many of the Pakistani court cases connected to those attacks, which have killed nearly 1,100 people have dragged on for years, or have yet to make it even past the investigation stage and into the courts, the review said.

The handful of cases that have been decided have all resulted in acquittals though many of these defendants remain in custody while they are investigated in other cases, court officials said.

The recent acquittals of suspects in two of the most high-profile attacks -- the 2008 truck bombing outside the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad and last year's commando-style raid on a police academy in Lahore --

have highlighted the problems plaguing the system.

Media reports, quoting Associated Press, said the handful of cases that have been decided have all resulted in acquittals -- though many of these defendants remain in custody while they are investigated in other cases.

By contrast, 89 per cent of terrorism cases in the United States have resulted in convictions since the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, according to a report this year by the Centre on Law and Security at the New York University School of Law.

The lack of collected evidence forces prosecutors to rely heavily on witnesses, a problem in a country where there is no witness protection program, reports said, adding that people who are asked to testify in terror trials are often threatened or killed by militants.