After the National Assembly, the Senate also approved an amendment to the Anti -Terrorism Law (ATA), 1997, which reinserted the powers granted to the authorities of application of the Law (LEA) and the Armed Forces to stop people for up to three months, Amide the opposition’s uproar.
Last week, the National Assembly had approved the amendment to the ATA.
The Minister of State for the Interior and Narcotics, Muhammad Steal, Badar, transferred the draft amendment against terrorism 2025 to amend the ATA in the Chamber, according to the Associated Press of Pakistan.
A copy of the invoice, available with Dawn.com Read: “The Government or, when the provisions of Section 4, the Armed Forces or the Armed Civil Forces have been invoked, as perhaps the case, subject to the specific or general order of the Government in this regard, during a period that does not exceed three months and after registering their reasons, issuing the order for the preventive detention of any person.”
This amendment was carried out to subsection (1) of section 11eeee of the ATA.
According to the bill, any person suspected of activities against national security or security will be arrested, and added that the people involved in the objective murder, the kidnapping of rescue, the extortion can be arrested for three months.
The bill also added that it applies “against whom there are enough reasons of having been so worried, for investigation purposes.”
The bill available stated that the arrest of a person arrested under section 11EEEE, including detention exceeding three months, would be subject to the provisions of article 10 (safeguards on arrest and detention) of the Constitution.
If the army or civil forces issue an arrest warrant, the investigation will be carried out by a joint research team, according to the bill.
“The investigation will be carried out by any police officer below the police superintendent, intelligence agencies, civil armed forces, armed forces and other law enforcement agencies,” added the bill.
Senator Jui-F Kamran Murtaza transferred certain amendments to the bill, but the Chamber rejected them with most votes, Application aggregate.
The Chamber approved the bill through the clause by reading the clause.
The declaration of objects and reasons of the bill said that the current security situation requires a solid response that goes beyond the existing legal framework.
“The old amendment of Section 11EEE of the IBID Law must re -insert to empower the Government, the Armed Forces and the Civil Armed Forces with the necessary authority to stop people who represent a significant threat to national security,” he added.
This provision would allow the preventive detention of suspects based on credible information or reasonable suspicion, which interrupts terrorist plots before they can be executed.
This will also provide the agencies for the application of the Law of Application of the Law the legal support for more effective operations against terrorism. It would facilitate the use of joint interrogation equipment (JIT), composed of members of several agencies for the application of the law and intelligence to make comprehensive consultations and gather actionable intelligence.
Previously, responding to several points raised by legislators in the Senate, the Minister of Law, Azam Nazeer Tarar, said: “Currently, the country faces a threat of terrorism and the amendments proposed by Syed Naveed Qamar have already joined to make it more effective.”
The bill has also approved evidence of judicial scrutiny, said that he added that a three-year clause has also been added in the Sun-Set.
Tarar said that under clause 2 of the amendment, the detainee would have presented before the magistrate within 24 hours.
The lawyer Syed Ali Zafar of PTI said that they were also against the threat of terrorism and wanted to stop him. However, he continued that “some of his clauses are against law and the Constitution, so the bill must be sent to the committee.”
Speaking on the occasion, PML-N Senator Irfanul has had Siddiqui emphasized that no indulgence should be shown towards terrorism.
“We do not want terrorists to roam freely, while innocent people are sacrificed in different provinces, in passenger trains such as Jaffar Express, or in specific attacks. These acts weaken our federation and create distrust between people and the State,” he observed.
Siddiqui urged legislators to see the anti -terrorism legislation in their appropriate spirit, since we have lost almost 100,000 lives due to the threat of terrorism. “We must give up militants or legislate to resist them. These laws can prevent crime and also stop the forced disappearances and arbitrary arrests,” he said.
Senator Siddiqui urged all parties to take the anti -terrorist legislation of good faith instead of perceiving it as a tool against political opponents.
He said that the government and opposition must guarantee transparent communication with the public and the media with respect to legislative measures, according to Application.
Section 11eee of the ATA was amended in 2014, providing the government to authorized armed forces and armed civil forces to carry out the preventive detention of suspected individuals of participation in activities related to terrorism. However, this amendment was subject to a sunset clause, limiting its validity to two years, which expired in 2016.
In November 2024, the Government presented in silence the bill in the NA, trying to grant the military and civil armed forces the authority to keep people who face positions of terrorism in ‘preventive’ detention for up to three months.
The Pakistan Human Rights Commission (HRCP) had also expressed concern about the passage.
