Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Bill 2010
On 27 July 2010, the Interior Minister of Pakistan, Mr Rehman Malik, introduced the Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Bill 2010 in the Senate. The Bill was introduced in wake of the expiry of the Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Ordinance 2010 that lapsed in early June. It could not be re-promulgated a second time as the Eighteenth Constitutional amendment requires the approval of the National Assembly for re-promulgation. The proposed Bill introduces 25 amendments to the Anti Terrorism Act (ATA) 1997 (hereafter the Act) with the objective of empowering the law enforcement agencies in Pakistan in their fight against terrorism and militancy. The Bill does away with several legal safeguards guaranteed by the Pakistan Constitution and Pakistan criminal law and places extensive powers in the hands of law enforcement agencies. CHRI undertook a critique of the Bill in order to highlight the disastrous consequences of several of its provisions. The analysis advances on the belief that while it is the duty of any government to ensure order and security within its territory, abrogation of fundamental human rights evolved over the years cannot yield any lasting results. Security for some at the cost of others cannot bring about peace, and it should be the duty of our leaders to constantly strive to achieve a secure environment for all.
Draft Punjab Police Act 2010
In early 2010, Punjab province came up with the Draft Punjab Police Act 2010. The Act dilutes several progressive clauses and safeguards of the Police Order 2002, and fails to incorporate the principles of democratic policing that would provide the people of Punjab with a professional, efficient and accountable police. Having developed sufficient expertise in the India programme to critique police legislations, CHRI developed a full critique of the DPPA. This was shared with the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP). After inputs from HRCP this was to be handed over to the Punjab Police. However we failed to get much cooperation from HRCP resulting in the critique not getting the attention it deserved from the police.