Fida Hussein Ghalvi testified 12 years ago against Malik Ishaq -- a founding member of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi charged with 70 murders, including the killing 12 of Ghalvi's family members -- but the imminent release of the terrorist leader has added horror to Ghalvi's life of grief, already reduced to the limits of his house in Multan, reports New York Times.
| "When Ishaq was arrested in 1997, he unleashed his broad network against his opponents, killing witnesses, threatening judges and intimidating police, leading nearly all of the prosecutions against him to collapse eventually." |
The newspaper says Ghalvi still gets threats from followers of Ishaq -- who, maddeningly, has never had a conviction that stuck, although police records show a dizzying tally of murders against his name. "When Ishaq was arrested in 1997, he unleashed his broad network against his opponents, killing witnesses, threatening judges and intimidating police, leading nearly all of the prosecutions against him to collapse eventually," says New York Times. "Now, with the cases against him mostly exhausted, Ishaq (50) -- a 'jihadi hero' -- could be out on bail as early as this month. That prospect terrifies Ghalvi," says the newspaper. "My life is totally constrained," says Ghalvi. "I can't even go to funerals. What have I gotten from 13 years of struggle except grief?"
Although Ishaq "no longer seems to have official support ... convicting him has been all but impossible", says the newspaper. "One of the main reasons is fear. Beginning in 1997, Ishaq stood trial for the deaths of 12 people at a gathering of the Ghalvi family, who are Shias. Soon after the trial began, witnesses began to die." Through eight more deaths and eight years of court proceedings, the Ghalvis refused to compromise, but a judge ruled in 2004 that there was not enough evidence to convict. The case has been in an appeals court since.
A judge did hand down a guilty verdict in one case against Ishaq, but the Supreme Court overturned it. "It was fear," said the judge who delivered the initial verdict, explaining the SC decision. "It's as obvious as daylight."
According to an expert with the RAND Corporation, fair trials of jihadis who have committed violent crimes are the only way to expose them. But such trials are rare, leaving people like Ghalvi living in a strange state of suspended animation. "I sometimes feel like a prisoner, and the killers are at large," said Ghalvi, sitting in his large living room, dark from no electricity. "Where is the justice?" |