Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Islamabad (Agenzia Fides) - The case of Asia Bibi, the Christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy, has highlighted the urgency of a comprehensive reform of the criminal justice system in Pakistan. Today the International Crisis Group (ICG) think-tank based in Brussels and with offices around the world also came to the same conclusion as that expressed by human rights activists, Christian leaders, Muslim jurists and representatives of civil society in Pakistan (see Fides 19/11/2010).
The new ICG report, entitled “Reforming the criminal justice system of Pakistan”, notes that “the malfunctioning of the criminal justice system poses a risk to domestic, regional and international security.” This calls for the Government to implement a revised system that currently has deficiencies in investigations, is characterised by lack of modernity and transparency, but predominantly by “corruption, intimidation and external interference, also by military intelligence agencies”, which sometimes hamper indictments and trials. The result of this situation is the collapse of public confidence, who no longer believe in justice.
The ICG report calls on the Government to abolish the discriminatory and unjust laws (such as the blasphemy law, under which Asia Bibi was charged) and to establish a robust witness protection program: in the absence of this, many serious offences go unpunished and militants and terrorists are released on bail. The inefficiency of the system is demonstrated by the low conviction rate, around 5-10% in respect to the number of trials held. The courts in Pakistan, for example, have failed to convict those responsible for serious attacks, such as on the Danish Embassy in 2008, the explosion at the Marriot Hotel in Islamabad in September 2008 and the attack on the Police Academy in Lahore in 2009.
But, in addition to these significant instances, there are thousands of individuals involved in unjust trials, often poor and defenceless, like Asia Bibi, innocent victims of a system that proves to be too easily influenced to pressures by extremists, and “one-way” investigations. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 07/12/2010)
