JURIST Guest Columnist Moeen Cheema, professor of Law & Policy at the Lahore University of Management Sciences in Lahore, Pakistan, says that the nature of the charges laid against hundreds of Lahore lawyers arrested after their recent mass protest against the imposition of emergency rule shows that General Pervez Musharraf is waging his real "war on terror" against dissenters, not terrorists…

General Pervez Musharaf claims he has imposed what is effectively Martial Law in the country to enable the security services to prosecute the War on Terror more efficiently. He has alleged that Pakistan’s superior judiciary had to be rendered compliant since it was undermining the security agencies.

But a review of the FIR (First Information Report) pursuant to which 344 lawyers, out of an approximate total of one thousand, arrested during the crackdown on protests at the Lahore High Court on Monday have been charged with anti-terrorism offences reveals the nature of Musharraf’s real War on Terror.

The lawyers have been charged with a range of offences including attempted murder; property damage; rioting; public nuisance; and disobeying, hindering and assaulting public servants in order to deter the performance of their duties. This makes for rather mundane reading. More interestingly, the dissident lawyers have also been charged with a breach of §16 of the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance, dating back to the early days of Pakistan’s first military dictator, General Ayub Khan. This provision criminalizes the publicizing of ‘rumours’ that may spread alarm and endanger public safety: presumably, the dangerous rumour that was being spread by the protesters in this case is that there is Martial Law in the country.

Most interestingly, these protesting lawyers have also been charged with a violation of §7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997. In this regard, they were presented before the Anti-Terrorism Court in Lahore on Tuesday afternoon before being transferred to various jails in the country for a period of at least 14 days. It is anticipated that most of them shall be detained for a period of 60 days or more. Bail may not be granted to a person charged under this anti-terrorism provision, and hence the protesters may be detained without further recourse to judicial process. This may be somewhat frivolous, given that many of the lawyers who had gathered outside the Anti-Terrorism Court in Lahore were also attacked and arrested by the police.

The protesters who have been targeted with these specifically harsh measures include most of the leaders of the legal community. This action is clearly designed to prevent the reorganization of the legal community for further protests. The protesters include several female lawyers, and many senior members of the bar.

As for the newfound efficiency of the security forces, their vigor was fully displayed inside the Lahore High Court premises on Monday. During earlier protests against the first suspension of the Chief Justice of Pakistan, the police never ventured beyond the entrances of the court complex. On the one occasion that the police tried to enter the Lahore High Court premises, the Supreme Court intervened and swiftly reined in the police.

This time the police forces had no fear of the Supreme Court, for no such court exists. All we have left is a building and eight old men playing dumb charades.

Moeen Cheema is an Assistant Professor of Law & Policy at the Lahore University of Management Sciences in Lahore, Pakistan
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