Pakistan: Murder of Daniel Pearl - Anti-terrorism lacunae

The kidnapping and murder of Daniel Pearl, the South Asia bureau chief of the Wall Street Journal, in 2002 is a dark blot on our reputation. The latest episode in this gruesome incident does not help our case. An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Islamabad has released one of the accused in the Daniel Pearl case, Qari Hashim, for lack of evidence. Qari Hashim was charged with the offence of being the go between, the man who arranged the meeting between the slain journalist and his kidnappers. The murder of Daniel Pearl was no ordinary crime; it was a blatant act of terrorism and ought to be dealt with in the same manner. By acquitting Qari Hashim, who had been under arrest since 2005, the court has failed to distinguish between an ordinary criminal act and an act of terror. One is unfortunately too used to seeing the prosecution’s case falling flat because of a number of factors, lack of evidence being one of them. It is a rather miserable situation in the country’s courts that witnesses and even judges are intimidated, the former to retract their testimonies and the latter to deliver manipulated verdicts..

It is also a given that gathering evidence in cases of terrorism is not as easy as in other circumstances. A massive amount of intelligence gathering is required and the only efficacious way to really tackle terror acts is to prevent them happening in the first place. With such a different canvas to build a case on, the prosecution needs to be at the top of its game and that is rarely witnessed in the Pakistani courts, including the ATC. It is imperative that, in this day and age of violent militancy, people accused and charged with playing a part in terror acts not be released back into society unless their innocence is proved beyond a shadow of a doubt. In that context it is a matter of satisfaction that Qari Hashim has been detained after his acquittal in preventive detention for 90 days under the MPO. This respite should be used to redouble efforts to find clinching evidence of his guilt. Terrorists are becoming more and more savage and bloodthirsty; they are a threat to society and we cannot just keep letting them go. The murder of Daniel Pearl was a ghastly one — beheading — and Qari Hashim was suspected of playing a major role in it as he was under arrest for some nine years.