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| India-Pakistan |
| Pakistan Supreme Court again considers militaryÂ’s secret detentions |
| 2013-02-07 |
| A year ago, Pakistan’s Supreme Court ordered the country’s military to produce seven men who’d been held in a secret prison after the civilian terrorism charges against them had collapsed. It was a dramatic scene, as the men, who hadn’t been seen in years, appeared in court – emaciated, ill, with one carrying a colostomy bag. The shock was so great that Rohaifa Bibi, the 59-year-old mother of two of the men, suffered a heart attack that night and died. The men, however, did not gain their freedom. Instead, they were shunted into a military internment system that is a glaring example of how Pakistan’s legal system has failed to cope with Islamic extremist violence ignited by the country’s alliance with the United States after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Poor investigations by intelligence agencies and police and low rates of convictions by the courts have prompted the military to take justice into its own hands. That’s resulted in the abduction of suspected extremists by intelligence agents, extrajudicial killings, and the trampling of due process. |
| Posted by:tipper |