Lahore, Apr. 1 (ANI): Four out of five persons accused in terrorism case are acquitted in Pakistan, official figures have revealed.
As many as 271 terrorism cases out of 559 that were decided in 2012 by the anti terrorism courts (ATCs) in the Punjab had to be dismissed and the accused acquitted because the witnesses recanted, reports The Express Tribune.
Of the 559, convictions were secured in 145 cases, according to official figures.
A total of 414 cases ended in the acquittal of the accused; in 124 of the cases the suspects were acquitted on 'merits of the case' and in 19 the parties reached a compromise.
Khurram Khan, a deputy prosecutor general, attributed the large number of recanting witnesses to "fear, threats and out of court settlements". He was quick to add that charges under the act are non-compoundable, parties do compromise, especially in murder cases.
Witnesses have a high rate of recanting because of fear or threats in kidnapping for ransom cases, Khan said. When it comes to high profile cases or terrorism attacks, it is usually the police that are the complainants, he said. When they are threatened, they give statements contradicting their earlier statements. This results in concessions to or acquittal of the accused, he added.
In August 2011, the US State Department released its 2010 Country Reports on Terrorism in which Pakistan was criticised as being "plagued by an acquittal rate of approximately 75 per cent" and a legal system "almost incapable of prosecuting suspected terrorists", according to the Telegraph. (ANI)
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