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The terrorist attack on Lahore’s Gulshan-e-Iqbal
Park on Sunday, March 27, 2016, resulted in the loss of 76 innocent lives. The
heinous crime is yet another indication of the momentous task facing Pakistan
to completely eradicate terrorism, along with the fact that this is a generational
struggle in which every segment of the State, Government and Society will have
to play its part.
Even while Pakistan fights this complex war,
and in the process it has to make difficult choices such as limiting civil liberties
at times, it must not forsake the principle of maintaining the rule of law.
The response to the Lahore Attack, under which a series of Military-led
operations were conducted across Punjab, has apparently raised confusion and
perhaps compromised the Constitutional requirements of rule of law and supremacy
of the elected Government.
The impression of a disjointed response by the
elected Government and the Military leadership to the Lahore Attack not only
contributes to the confusion in the aftermath of such tragedies, but also undermines
the cause of eradicating terrorism. This has created the dangerous impression
at a critical time that the elected Government that holds executive power is
not really in-charge and that the operations against the terrorists are not
under a unified system led by the elected leadership. This was the impression
presented in a number of media commentaries at that time.
The following key points may be considered in
this regard:
- In the aftermath of the attack, it seems as if there are
two parallel national security regimes that are operational in the country.
Through March 27-28, 2016, the Honourable Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr.
Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, and the Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Raheel Sharif held
two separate meetings each. The ones led by the Prime Minister saw the absence
of any representation of the Military leadership, and vice-versa.1
- Based on the facts leading up to the operation and since
the launch of the operation, there is a persistent and widespread impression
that the Military-led operations in Punjab have not been undertaken after
consultation with the elected leadership, and were unilaterally ordered
by the Army.2 Further credence is given to this impression by
the tweets issued by the DG ISPR, Lt. Gen. Asim Saleem Bajwa, on March 27,
2016, stating that the ‘COAS directed concerned comds [commanders]
& Int [Intelligence] agencies to commence ops [operations]
asap [as soon as possible] to find linkages and perpetrators
of the Lhr [Lahore] suicide attack’.3
- Further signs of a disjointed approach, and perhaps the
Military leadership unilaterally undertaking the operations, reside in the
inability of the representatives of the Federal Government and the Provincial
Government of the Punjab to effectively negate the reports of a Military-led
action.4 Even the Honourable Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr.
Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, only referred to platitudes such as continuing the
war against terrorism till its logical conclusion during his address to
the nation of March 28, 2016, without referring to the operations undertaken
in Punjab. The DG ISPR on the other hand, has not chosen to mince any words
by saying that ‘operations are being carried out in Punjab; operations
have already begun…Intelligence agencies, along with army troops
are carrying out the operation’. The one thing that remains common
across the responses given by civil-military leadership is that the oblique
justification of the operations is given in the National Action Plan.
- Although NAP was referred to while justifying the Military-led
operation,5 an overview of the NAP shows that it only states
that ‘there will be zero tolerance for militancy in Punjab’,
which in no way automatically sanctifies the Military-led operations in
Punjab.
- Even if Military-led operations had to be undertaken, why
was the constitutionally prescribed procedure of requisitioning of Armed
Forces and Civilian Armed Forces not followed, as is being done in Sindh,
for instance?
- Why was the meeting of the National Security Committee
(NSC), ‘the principal decision-making body on matters of national
security’, not convened after the attack, to decide upon a coordinated
approach?
The supremacy of rule of law and constitutional
requirements should not be compromised in our fight to eliminate terrorism from
our homeland. The erosion of the rule of law in the past has been at least partially
responsible for the rise of such outlaws as the terrorists and we should be
under no illusion that terrorism can be effectively combated with a weak rule
of law.
Refrences:
1. First Meeting held
by the Prime Minister: On Sunday, March 27, 2016; ‘Meeting
lasted for four hours’. Meeting also attended by Federal Minister
of Interior, Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan, MNA, and Federal Minister of Finance,
Revenue and Privatisation, Senator Ishaq Dar. For details, please see:
http://pmo.gov.pk/press_release_detailes.php?pr_id=1397
Second Meeting held by the Prime Minister:
On the morning of Monday, March 28, 2016 at Lahore; on the occasion, the Prime
Minister stated that ‘I want more proactive coordination between Law
Enforcement and Intelligence agencies. Provinces should speed up intelligence-based
operations against terrorists’. The meeting was also attended by
the Chief Minister of Punjab, Mr. Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif, MPA; Federal Minister
for Interior, Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan, MNA; Provincial Minister for Law, Rana
Sanaullah, MPA; DG IB; Chief Secretary, Punjab; Home Secretary, Punjab; IG Punjab
and other senior Government officials.
For details, please see:
http://www.pmo.gov.pk/news_details.php?news_id=511
First Meeting held by the Chief of Army
Staff: On Sunday, March 27, 2016; ‘COAS directed concerned
comds and Int agencies to commence operation’. Meeting
also attended by DG ISI & DG MI. For details, please see:
http://www.geo.tv/latest/103005-Army-Chief-orders-action-against-culprits-of-Lahore-suicide-attack
Second Meeting held by the Chief of Army
Staff: On the morning of Monday, March 28, 2016 at the GHQ; 5 Operations
carried out in Lahore, Faisalabad and Multan. After the meeting, the news started
making rounds that the COAS had emphasized that no ‘joint action’
will be conducted, as in the past, with the police and the provincial intelligence
agencies.
2. For details, please consider
the following news headlines:
- Army
Chief orders counter-terrorism operations in Punjab, The Express Tribune,
March 29, 2016
- Army
kicks off Punjab-wide operation against militants, Samaa News, March
28, 2016
- Military gives
go ahead for Punjab Operation after Lahore Carnage, Dawn, March 28,
2016
- Did
Army Chief consult PM on Punjab Operation? The News, March 29, 2016
4. The line toed revolved around describing the
procedure in undertaking such operations, where the Provincial Government
takes stock of the threat, and orders either the police, the paramilitary
forces, or the Army to take action on a case-to-case basis.
5. Article 147 of the Constitution (Powers of
the Provinces to Entrust Functions on the Federation; Article 245 of the Constitution
(Requisitioning of the Armed Forces in Aid of Civil Power); Section 2 &
3 of the Protection of Pakistan Act, 2014; Section 4 of the Anti-Terrorism
Act of 1997 (Calling in of Armed Forces and Civil Armed Forces to prevent
terrorism), and Article 11EEEE (Special Powers of Detainment and Formation
of JIT) of the Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Act, 2014.
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