Pak parliament should limit intelligence agencies' criminal activities to protect Baloch people: Editorial

Nigeria Sun (ANI) Tuesday 7th February, 2012

Pakistan's parliament should do something to protect people in Balochistan by stopping the intelligence agencies from carrying out their criminal activities, showing power, an editorial has said.

In any democratic setup, protection of citizens' rights should be given the utmost importance, The Daily Times editorial said.

It also said that just because the military is the most powerful institution of the state, it has no right to violate the fundamental rights because in that case, it would imperil the state itself.

With similar views, three senators from the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) have submitted a bill in the Senate, seeking a reduction in the powers of the law-enforcement agencies and the intelligence agencies regarding preventive detention.

The said bill proposes "to reinstate the maximum duration of one month for preventive detention without being heard, as it was in the original text of the Constitution of Pakistan 1973, before the Third Constitution Amendment made in 1975, that had increased this period to three months."

Reports of people missing in Balochistan have become an issue of concern for the locals there, who blame the army and the intelligence agencies for their disappearance.

In such a situation, some of the JI bill's positive aspects could prove to be sign of relief for the troubled in people in the region.

"In case a person is detained without affording him the opportunity of fair trial and without informing his relatives or any of his rights is infringed, the authority making order of preventive detention and persons carrying out such illegal order shall be deemed to have committed the offence of abduction or wrongful confinement and shall be tried in the court of law," the bill says.

The intelligence agencies in Pakistan are protected by a culture of impunity, which shields them against calls for accountability, the editorial said, adding that the country's parliament needs to do something to curb powers of these agencies. (ANI)