President Asif Ali Zardari signed on Sunday the Anti -Terrorism Law (amendment), 2025, seeking to improve anti -terrorism efforts while guaranteeing legal supervision and safeguards.
The amendments, made to the Anti -Terrorist Law (ATA), 1997, were approved by both the National Assembly and by the Senate this month in the middle of the opposition’s uproar, since it reinserted the powers granted to the police authorities (LEA) and the Armed Forces to detain people for up to three months.
“President Asif Ali Zardari has given consent to the draft anti -terrorism law (amendment), 2025,” said today’s statement of the president’s chamber.
“This law strengthens the capacity of security agencies to prevent terrorism and protect national security.”
He added that the law included judicial supervision and safeguards to provide an appeal against misuse and abuse of power, unlike past arbitrary practices.
“The amendment aims to improve anti -terrorist efforts while guaranteeing legal supervision and safeguards,” he said. “This is an important step to address the continuous security challenges of Pakistan.”
The invoice, a copy of which is available with Dawn.comRead: “The Government or, when the provisions of Section 4, the Armed Forces or the Civil Armed 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 or extortion can be detained for three months.
The bill also added that it is applied “against whom there are enough reasons of having been so worried, for [the] Purpose of the investigation “.
He declared 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 agencies that force the law,” added the bill.
The declaration of objects and reasons, presented in the houses during the approval of the bill, said that the current security situation in the country required a “robust 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, he said.
This will also provide the law enforcement agencies for 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 carry out comprehensive investigations and gather processable intelligence, added the statement.
