66 percent of the accused of terrorism were acquitted by the courts due to lack of evidence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. 34 percent of the accused were only punished by the court of law.
The province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which shares its borders with Afghanistan, the hub of the militants and Taliban, is quite prone to terrorism . The lack of evidence led to the release of 66 percent of militants, which leads to a major threat to the country.
About 13 anti-terrorism courts in the province dealt with 143 cases of terrorism. The accused of the 48 cases were convicted. Of the total number 63 were acquitted on the basis of suspicion, while 27 were released due to lack of evidence.
DG Prosecution Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Mukhtiar Ahmad, declared that the rate of punishment for the accused involved in terrorism last year was only 19 percent. While this year no accused involved in terrorism was sentenced to death. Only 3 were sentenced to life imprisonment.
Possible reasons behind the acquittel
DG Prosecution further cited that the low number of prosecutors, lack of proper training. Moreover the weak investigation system are the main reasons for the acquittal of a large number of accused.
5 thousand and 57 accused involved in the cases have been convicted by the session courts this year. The rate of conviction has thus been increased from 34 percent to 42 percent. According to CCPO Ijaz Khan, under the new system after the Prosecution Act, 2005, it is difficult to get the accused to confess quickly.
What should be done?
According to the prosecution officials, in order to dispose of the cases quickly, including submission of challans within 17 days, the formation of committees for co-ordination between investigating police officers and the prosecution is also being considered.
Moreover, the legal experts declared that it has become necessary to develop the police and prosecution system on modern lines. This will increase the rate of punishment for the accused in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. This practice will help in the reduction of crime to a great extent.