A hasty plan in Pakistan

The Express Tribune reports that insiders involved in preparing the National Action Plan that included the 21st Amendment bill authorizing military courts to try civilians have started to voice their frustration. They were reportedly not afforded the time needed to think through clearly what needed to be done in the rush for a show of activity in the wake of the Peshawar Army Public School massacre.

The authors of the much-vaunted counterterrorism strategy deem it unfeasible, a document put together in haste rather than after careful deliberation.

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The authors of the NAP say the government did not allow them enough time to devise a comprehensive counterterrorism and counter-insurgency plan to ensure civilian supremacy in the implementation process. 

An expert said his request for allowing at least two weeks for doing proper homework to adopt a suitable counterterrorism approach was also turned down. “The document was prepared in a few hours without meaningful deliberation.” 

When the authors were contacted by the federal government, they were told to put together the action plan in the least possible time. “When we requested some time to think about it, we were told that this was an urgent issue and there was no other option but to do something on a war-footing basis,” said one of the authors.

Global Military Justice Reform continues to check the website of the Supreme Court of Pakistan to see if the Chief Justice has taken any action to send the numerous 21st Amendment constitutional petitions to an expanded bench. So far, nothing doing.