Military courts

If voted to power the PML (N) chief Nawaz Sharif says that his government would set up military courts in Sindh - how much more out of sync with the spirit of times the so-called votary of undiluted democracy could be. If that is his thinking then one can say with some assertion that not only is he behind the times he is absolutely blank about our own history also. That he made this statement in the capital of Sindh, Karachi, and in the presence of some prominent Sindhi leaders is all the more disturbing, in that it lays bare his mindset. The military courts, established during his second coming (1997-1999), may have provided temporary relief from the curses of terrorism, violence and dacoities but as soon as these were wound up the curses rebounded even more strongly. In fact, they left behind on a more or less permanent basis deep scars and bitter memories. The feeling of alienation that still persists in parts of the province can be to some extent traced to those days, and comes to the fore whenever the people of Sindh feel they are being let down by the Federation. Nawaz Sharif could be a bit more circumspect in his utterances, for law and order situations in other provinces are not in any way better than in Sindh. If Nawaz Sharif is out of tune with the existing ground-realties no less questionable is his thinking that military courts are the best option to eliminate what he called the 'dacoit rule'. His concept doesn't stand the test of law and jurisprudence, in that military courts are set up - they do only in very exceptional situations - to deal with emergencies, a precedent drawing sustenance from wartime conditions. In fact, just the opposite of it is being advocated in modern democracies where even military personnel are increasingly asking for trials in civil courts. Of course, our Constitution provides for suspension of fundamental rights while proclamation of emergency is in force, but the "grave emergency" that warrants such a suspension didn't obtain when the Nawaz Sharif government set up military courts, nor it does now. What we have in Sindh, and no less seriously in other provinces, is a kind of situation that normal law-enforcement followed by proper prosecution should be good enough to take care of. We believe the PML (N) chief should have known by now that the Supreme Court has buried for good the concept of military courts by outlawing such entities. The phenomenon of failing law and order is not Sindh-specific; it is countrywide and its failure is spectacular all over the place. The law-breakers are there and they just can't be whisked away by empty words and unrealisable commitments. The fact is that our police is corrupt, investigations are faulty and prosecution poor. That the lower judiciary is not equal to its task of delivering even-handed justice is a problem also. And no less disappointing is the work of the lawmakers who have failed to improve the relevance of the existing statutory law to the needs of present times. In addition to the ordinary court there are special courts, some exclusively tasked to deal with heinous crimes; why there have to be military courts to take care of the dacoits in Sindh when these courts can do it without robbing the defendants of their fundamental rights. As we are on it, an equally important issue that needs to be stressed is the political leaderships' rapid-fire statements and impromptu remarks which sometimes get rebuffed by contrasting actualities and realities. Given that the media is too vigilant and keen to find you standing on the wrong foot, the political hopefuls have to be no less alert and factual in their statements. Perhaps, written texts would help; at least Prime Minister Gilani has learnt that lesson, or so he says. Copyright Business Recorder, 2012