IT is unfortunate that in a country where terrorism is rampant, the success rates in even those cases that are brought to trial is abysmal. During the past year, anti-terrorism courts in Rawalpindi maintained an acquittal rate of 60 per cent, even though the cases that came up included a suicide attack on Rescue 15 in Islamabad and the murder of a Polish engineer. Shocking though this is, the reason cited by prosecutors is even worse: they say that they and their families are exposed to threats from all sides while the police force does nothing to help. As we reported on Saturday, despite efforts over several months, the Punjab prosecution department has been unable to have the Rawalpindi police extend security to its prosecutors. Various communications in this regard, including by the prosecutor general to the relevant authorities, have produced no results.The situation cuts to the very heart of the reason why so many terrorism-related cases in Pakistan never see convictions. Our report quoted a prosecutor as saying that under such circumstances, prosecutors ended up prioritising their own safety over their job. It is difficult to blame them, given the ever-present danger of reprisal attacks in the sort of cases handled by the ATCs.
Yet the reality is that unless prosecution success rates start climbing, the signal being sent out is that the perpetrators of violence are likely to get away with it by threatening more violence. True, the understaffed police force is in a bind: the CPO Rawalpindi pointed out that there are dozens of ATCs in Punjab and if the Rawalpindi police started providing personal security staff to prosecutors, other prosecutors would also demand it. Yet a compromise is urgently required. Reducing crime and terrorism is largely about building a successful prosecution. Without that, lawbreakers will continue to operate with impunity.