Repression vs. terror

Lawmakers in the Pakistani parliament passed the Protection of Pakistan Bill on Tuesday (01.07.2014), doubling the maximum jail time for those convicted of terror crimes and allowing security forces to detain suspects for up to 60 days without disclosing their whereabouts or allegations against them.

Islamabad says it introduced the legislation in a bid to curb the violence and instability blighting the country. President Mamnoon Hussain is expected to sign it into law within days.

Pakistan has been fighting homegrown Islamist militants for over a decade now, but the nuclear-armed country has also been struggling to cope with the legal challenges in dealing with the insurgency. The changes in legislation come as the country's military is locked in battle against Taliban and al Qaeda-linked militants hiding out in the restive North Waziristan tribal area on the Afghan border.

The military operation was launched in response to a brazen attack on the Karachi airport - the country's largest - by a Pakistani Taliban and an Uzbek militant group. It is believed that some of the region's most feared militants use North Waziristan as a launching pad for attacks within Pakistan as well as against NATO forces in neighboring Afghanistan.

It's important to point out, however, that the recently passed bill was watered down from its initial form which would have granted security forces the authority to open fire on anyone they see committing or "likely to commit" terror-related offences. The amendment now states that senior officers can only shoot suspects "as a last resort."

Furthermore, the detention time for terror suspects was reduced from 90 to 60 days. The Pakistani Senate had refused to approve the original bill in April over mounting concerns that it violated human rights.

'A threat to basic rights'

Nevertheless, the legislation has been slammed by human rights activists. Phelim Kine, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch (HRW), said in a statement that while the bill is in some respects an improvement over its predecessor - the Protection of Pakistan Ordinance - the new law "threatens basic rights and freedoms in violation of Pakistan's international legal obligations."

Kine argues that this "vague and overbroad counterterrorism law" gives a green light to abuse suspects in detention, which is already far too common in Pakistan, and has called on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, as leader of the House in the National Assembly (lower house of parliament), to "ensure that this law is replaced by one that ensures the protection of basic rights in the fight against terrorism."

What is a terrorist act?

HRW points to vague definition of terrorist acts in the bill, which could be used to prosecute a very wide range of conduct far beyond the limits of what can reasonably be considered terrorist activity.

"Besides killing, kidnapping, extortion, the law classifies highly ambiguous acts including Internet offenses and other offenses related to information technology as prosecutable crimes without providing specific definitions for such offenses," the group said. "In its current form, the law could be used to suppress peaceful political opposition and criticism of government policy."

Mustafa Qadri, Pakistan researcher at Amnesty International, has a similar view. He told DW he believes the bill in its current form represents a "massive backward step" in the context of human rights and security in Pakistan as it not only expands the scope under which police can shoot suspects on sight, but also fails to respect international standards of law enforcement.

Pakistani security agencies, particularly the military-controlled Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), have been widely accused of carrying out human rights violations in insurgency-marred western Balochistan province.

Rights organizations, including Pakistan's independent Human Rights Commission (HRCP), accuse military and paramilitary forces of kidnapping, torturing and killing political opponents in Balochistan and northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces. Experts fear the new law will make Pakistan's notorious spy agencies even bolder as they carry on with their activities.

'A system of secret courts'

"Sweeping powers have been given to police and security forces which have been implicated in unlawful killings in the past," Qadri said, adding that this would not improve the volatile security situation in some parts of the country. Furthermore, he said, the law creates a system of secret courts which reverses the internationally accepted legal principle that a suspect is innocent until proven guilty.

According to HRW, the ordinance states that those arrested under the new law shall be presumed to be engaged in waging war or insurrection against Pakistan unless he establishes his non-involvement in the offence. Kine argues that this amounts to shifting the "burden of proof" from government prosecutors to criminal suspects.

Human rights activists also criticize that the bill fails to address the shortcomings of the legal system and law enforcement agencies. Instead, Qadri argues, that the law serves the purpose of "political point-scoring" as it reduces the pressure on the government to address the core problems of the system.