For a stronger prosecution to fight militancy
The proposal to have a permanent attorney service with competent lawyers to fight militancy, is a welcome development although this kind of service should have been introduced much earlier. The government's task force, formed to prevent terror financing and money laundering, has realised that their work is significantly hampered if suspected militants get bail, giving them opportunity to carry out further attacks. This paper reports that around 150 suspected militants got bail over the last six months, mainly because the prosecutors failed to build up strong cases due to their lack of competence and efficiency. In fact officials of the taskforce have said that these prosecutors do not even inform the Attorney General's office when a suspected militant gets bail, as they are supposed to do. All this dilutes, to a large extent, the efforts by the government to fight militancy.
A flawed prosecution system and poor remuneration of public prosecutors have resulted in many suspected militants to come out of jail and continue with their nefarious activities.
At a time when the threat of terror looms large and when we have still not recovered from all those horrible attacks that have taken so many precious lives, it is unthinkable that such lapses in security continue to occur. The government has been trying hard to clamp down on militancy and has achieved significant success. But if the prosecution system is not made strong, all their efforts will come to naught.
We urge the government to form a permanent attorney service that will employ qualified, competent and dedicated lawyers who will make sure that the real terrorists are kept behind bars and do not get a chance to get out of jail and carry out acts of terror.
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