The world continues to face waves after waves of terrorist attacks with extremism continuing to take up flight irrespective of the checks being placed on them. Ever since 9/11 the US, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, France and the rest of the world have embattled extremism and terrorism. There have been efforts both monetary and those of life and blood to ensure that this is one issue that the world can get rid of.

Yet, even today the world finds itself battling terrorism at a higher level than it has ever been. The seemingly peaceful European states are now a target of the extremists, with France and Turkey being just a few of the many examples.

In the chaos of all this, Pakistan finds itself at the heartland of this fight against terror. Ever since the dreadful attack of 9/11 and perhaps a little before that, perhaps the death of Lion of Panjsher is what really set the ball rolling in terms of the rise of terrorism in Pakistan’s backyard and its neighboring Afghanistan. Pakistan has been facing terrorism and fighting terrorism for a very long time now. With the organizations changing name, Pakistan’s efforts remain undeterred.

Pakistan has long been facing terrorism. The fight started back in the time when General Pervaiz Musharaf was in charge, it continued during the 5 year of the PPP and even today the government is leading the charge against terrorists.

An Overview of Legislation

Post 9/11 checking terrorism and political violence through preventive legislation is one of the primary challenges to the local and state levels governments in Pakistan. In the wake of the 16th December attacks on the Army Public School, the government and all the major political parties at the helm of affairs decided to act with swift Anti terrorism legislation. Before taking a look at the legislation in question, it is important to realize what anti terrorism entails.

AT which is short for anti terrorism generally refers to defensive, passive, protective, legal measures against terrorism by the state. Pakistan has moved to strengthen its legislative ranks in a bid to fight terrorism by bringing into law the “Protection of Pakistan Act”. This act has been hailed and criticized for its alleged usurpation of basic human rights under the garb of national security and fighting terrorism.

 Yet if the words of Niccolo Machiavelli are to be believed, the act and the measures that it has prescribed are a step in the right direction. In The Prince Machiavelli wrote “fear is maintained by a never failing dread of punishment”. This is what the Protection of Pakistan Act works towards, creating a fear of prosecution and punishment among the perpetrators of terrorism.

Before the Protection of Pakistan Act was passed, Pakistan had a number of anti terrorism acts in operation. Here is a brief list of some of the acts and the years in which they became law.

The Suppression of Terrorist Activities Act 1975

Back in those times terrorism was more local and political natured. The key feature of this act was the use of Special courts for the trial of alleged terrorists moving beyond the use of section 144 of the Criminal procedure in the Criminal procedure code drafted by the British Authorities).

Anti Terrorism Act of 1997

This was one of the first acts to provide an adequate definition of terrorism. According to the words of the act it was “an act to provide for the prevention of terrorism, sectarian violence and for the speedy trail of heinous offences”. Yet this was late subjected to a modification largely because of the Mehram Ali case.

Pakistan Armed Forces Ordinance 1998

This was the first time that the use of military courts was made to aid civil power and fight terrorism in Pakistan by a civilian government. The act also added a new word to criminal offences against the state; this was “civil commutation” which could lead up to seven years of imprisonment even for the creation of internal disturbances.

Anti terrorism Ordinance 2002

Once 9/11 happened, Pakistan took on an important position in the plans of world powers looking to grapple the new and brewing rise of terrorism. Pakistan was made the front line state in what America dubbed the “war against terror. In an effort to strengthen its efforts in war, Pakistan used this ordinance to enhance the powers of the police in dealing with terrorists. This act was later amended in 2004 and 2005 which had revisions of punishments, and penalties which included an increase in number of year’s imprisonment.

The Current Legislation

The current act, the Protection of Pakistan Ordinance was signed by President of Pakistan Mr. Mamnoon Hussain on the 20th of October 2013. The act has given the Armed Forces and the civil armed forces powers that a police officer had under this ordinance. This is specifically talked about in Art.3 of this ordinance. In light of this ordinance, the armed forces have been given the right to interfere with civilian matters.

However the current legislation with its authorization and creation of military courts for 2 years and the ability of allowing law enforcement agencies to hold individual for 90 days without the need for a valid reason on mere suspicion of terrorism or facilitation of terrorism can be criticized.

A closer look at the current law of the country highlights the paradox that the current legislation has put us in. The fact that you are allowing military courts to function instead of strengthening the hand of the judiciary and the criminal justice system and enhancing powers of prosecution calls into question whether defeating terrorism is a long term problem or a short terms one. If it is believed to be short term, should the military courts that have been effective in bringing to justice a number of terrorists stay for more than 2 years?

Also, is the power to arrest and detain a person for 90 days without a valid reason and simply on the mere suspicion of being involved in terrorist activities in the absence of tangible evidence not violation of Art.10(1) of the Constitution of Pakistan 1973. The Art being talked about states, that “No Person who is arrested shall be detained in custody without being informed, as soon as may, of the grounds for such arrest, nor shall he be denied the right to consult and be defended by a legal practitioner of his choice”.

Yes, it can be seen that being one of the front line state against terrorism Pakistan needs to be able to back its armed forces with the best possible legal protection. The fact that we are facing organizations upon organizations of terrorist outfits that change their name, their tactics to destroy the peace of our country is understood.

Yet are we sure that the usurpation of the rights of the individuals that live and reside in Pakistan is something that will help us in our fight? Can we fight terrorism by undermining the rights of people who we believe are terrorists? Where is the due course of law? Where is rule of law? Are we not simply paving way for use of law, national security and protection of Pakistan as a means of facilitating and taking forward our agendas of vendetta and expansion? The question is one for all of us to think. Are we confident that our children will be able to escape the system if they are wrongly accused? The answer to the question determines where you stand.