You may be a Fourth Scheduler but you would know it only when there is a midnight knock at your door, or your cheque is refused by the bank. One may be listed on this schedule of the anti-terrorism act but would never know. As of now some 8,000 people are listed under the Fourth Schedule of Anti-Terrorism Act 1997. Why these names are there on that list and if at all those listed are alive it's all in the realm of the unknown. "We estimate that around 20 percent of those on the list are supposedly dead, while some 5 percent of names are of individuals who have either left the country or old and sick unable to move around, let alone travel," a NACTA official has been quoted as saying. Those listed under the Fourth Schedule are "proscribed persons under the law," who have been placed under tough movement restrictions. Without written permission of the officers in charge of the relevant police stations they cannot visit schools, colleges, and other institutions where persons under 21 years or women are taught, trained or housed. They are not allowed to visit cinemas or go to airports, railway stations or bus stands; also, they are supposed not to be seen at any public meeting and their and their close relations' residences can be searched by police or any other government agency. But is it happening? None of it. Being a vital link in the implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP) the Fourth Schedule in its present form is nothing but a forbidding albatross around its neck. Consider, ASWJ leader Maulana Ludhianvi, who is among some 2000 individuals on the Fourth Schedule, whose bank accounts are frozen and whose foreign travel is prohibited, has just returned from Hajj pilgrimage and recently inaugurated the madressah in Raja Bazaar, Rawalpindi. No one objected to his foreign travel; in fact, on the other hand, 'the authorities would come to seek his help and support to eradicate terrorism and sectarianism from the country'.
What an ambitious piece of enactment the Fourth Schedule of the ATA 1997 is and how flagrant is its violation for Pakistan, which is fighting its existential battle, this piece of law in its present shape and enforcement is nothing but a farce. We must not make the laws which we cannot enforce. Law and order being a provincial subject the "proscribed" people are generally the police suspects under the list called 'basta-B', or they were included by the Special Branch. But terrorism tends to be mainly a federal challenge. Rightly then the NACTA has directed the governments of four provinces, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir to establish a consolidated online database of all individuals under the Fourth Schedule of the Anti-Terrorist Act 1997. Before boarding a plane or going to a bank he would know if he is the proscribed person or not. Since provinces maintain their own lists, which are not exchanged with others, resultantly one proscribed individual in one province is not under any restriction in the other and therefor entitled to all that was being denied. The provinces are also expected to rationalise the list and delete names which are not relevant. If all this can be done in 15 mandated days, one has his doubts. What competence is there to check if a certain individual should be proscribed or not, or, if the one already proscribed is alive or not? It is an absolute necessity, although these difficulties may delay verification of credentials of the suspect to be included in Fourth Schedule. If the Exit Control List (ECL) can be scrutinised there is no reason why the Fourth Schedule cannot be refined and updated. But there is a word of caution: as it gets under way the concerned authorities have to be extra careful to ensure that nobody's freedom to move around is restricted or curtailed just on suspicion; there got be solid proof and cogent reasons. Freedom of movement is an individual's fundamental right and it can be curtailed only "under law in public interest."
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