KARACHI: The Sindh Witness Protection Act, 2013 passed by the provincial assembly on Wednesday promises complete government security to witnesses in criminal cases that along with life protection could lead to a reasonable accommodation, financial assistance and even compensation to legal heirs if the protected person is killed or dies during the process.
The new law, described by a key minister as a ‘landmark and first of its kind across Pakistan’, was widely welcomed by segments of society who were, however, cautious about its effectiveness in view of a tainted history of law-enforcement in the country.
“There is always a threat to the witnesses mainly in criminal cases,” Dr Sikandar Mandhro, the Sindh law minister, told Dawn. “And criminals or organised gangs always exploit that vulnerability of witnesses that they can threaten them, pressurise them or even kill them but can never be brought to justice. I hope the precedent set by Sindh would be followed by the other provinces as well.”
He said the bill would come into force with immediate effect once the governor signed it, which would lead to fulfilling other formalities of the law, including the Witness Protection Advisory Board and the Witness Protection Unit, assigning a key role to the provincial home department and the police.
For practical application of the law, the draft of the Sindh Witness Protection Act, 2013 says that a ‘witness protection programme’ would be run under an advisory board. The Witness Protection Advisory Board would be headed by the home secretary as its chairman with the law secretary, Sindh’s advocate general, inspector general, prison IG, prosecutor general, a representative of the provincial commission on human rights and the additional IG-CID as its members.
Under the advisory board, the Act also envisages establishing a ‘witness protection unit’ headed by the additional IG-CID as ‘chief witnesses protection officer’, which would comprise designated officers of the home department, members of the police force and “any person or officer or public servant designated or appointed by the government, subject to the provisions of this Act regarding administration of the programme”.
The programme would ensure complete social and financial protection to the witnesses in criminal cases, but that would require them to enter into a written agreement with the chief witnesses’ protection officer before placing him or her under the programme.
“A protection agreement shall set out the terms and conditions under which a witness or related person is to be placed under protection,” says the Act referring to the agreement between the protected witnesses and the protection unit. Apart from life security, the new law in a significant move also covers other aspects of the witnesses’ needs.
The programme allows the witness to establish a new identity, conceal identity by wearing a mask, changing voice and even video conferencing. Relocation of the witness, providing him or her a house, ‘reasonable financial assistance’, and compensation to the witness’s heirs in case of his or her killing or death during the proceedings by the government have also been made mandatory under the law.
Threat to the lives of witnesses in some crucial cases is not a new phenomenon in the country. In most high-profile cases, witnesses continue to face threats, but there is no proper platform where they can ask for protection. This became evident in 2011 when two witnesses were killed in the city in separate attacks in Karachi.
A former press secretary to the Shia Ulema Council, who was a prosecution witness in the Tahir Plaza case, Kausar Hussain Zaidi, was shot dead near Pakistan Chowk in December 2011. A lawyer and his four clients were burnt alive when Tahir Plaza was set on fire on April 9, 2008.Just a few days after the killing of Mr Zaidi.
32-year-old Qasim Ali was shot dead in front of the Ibn-i-Hasan Hospital in Malir. He was a prosecution witness in a case pertaining to the 2006 suicide bombing in which Allama Hasan Turabi was killed. While the police were not aware of the exact motive for the two killings, they said that the victims had no protection cover though they were witness in two crucial cases.
The fresh legislation is seen as a move in the right direction by rights bodies and the legal fraternity but effective enforcement remains their major question. They say the legislation was overdue, which was done by the Pakistan Peoples Party government but its implementation in true spirit would be more challenging for the government.
“It’s a good move, we believe,” said Zohra Yusuf of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. “It was long due but it’s a trend in Pakistan that laws are designed and approved but their enforcement remains ineffective. So it’s a good job done by the government and our provincial assembly but they should not stop this here. They should now make sure its effective enforcement.”
Mahmood Alam Rizvi, a prominent lawyer of criminal cases, though appreciated the new Act, said the provision of protection to the witnesses and lawyers was even provided by the existing laws which were hardly implemented.
“You may see that provision (provision of protection to witnesses and the lawyers) even in the ATA-1997,” he said. “But we haven’t seen any seriousness to enforce that. One of the lawyers, Maqbool-ur-Rahman, raised his security issue time and again before court and the authorities concerned but no one paid heed and finally he was shot dead.”
He referred to a number of cases, including the January 2011 case of TV journalist Wali Khan Babar’s killing, whose five eyewitnesses were assassinated one by one, and urged ‘honesty and effective enforcement’ to get results of the law. However Dr Mandhro, the Sindh law minister, was confident that the law was made in a way that assured its effective enforcement.“We contacted every relevant institution and individual before finalising the draft of this law,” he said. “Even when it was under process we held a meeting with the Sindh High Court chief justice to incorporate his advice and input. So we are sure once it’s become effective, it will return the desired results,” he added.