Islamabad:
Following its passage in the National Assembly, the Senate on Tuesday approved the anti-terrorism (amendment) Bill 2025, Restoring Powers allowing law enforcement authorities and the armed forces to detain suspects for up to three months, a step that triggered rebellion from opposition benches.
Prime Minister for Interior and Drugs Checks Muhammad Talal Badar tabled the bill that changes sub-section (1) of ยง 11EEEEE in the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.
According to the amendment, “the government or, where the provisions of section 4 have been invoked, the armed forces or civilian armed forces … for a period that does not exceed three months, and after registration of the reasons thereof, the question issued the preventive detention of any person.”
The bill says that persons suspected of national security activities, including target killings, kidnapping for ransom and extortion, can be detained for three months, adding that it uses “against who is sufficient reason that he has been so concerned with the purpose of investigation”.
Prisons extending beyond this threshold will be subject to Article 10 of the Constitution, providing protection measures with regard to arrest and detention.
According to the new arrangement, if a detention order is issued by the army or civilian forces, the investigation will be handled by a joint investigative team. “The inquiry will be made by no police officer under rank as a superintendent of police, intelligence agencies, civilian armed forces, armed forces and other law enforcement agencies,” the bill adds.
While Jui-F’s Senator Kamran Murtaza tried to move amendments, they were rejected by a majority when Parliament passed the law clause for the clause. According to its declaration of objects, the current safety prospects require “a robust reaction that goes beyond the existing legal framework”.
The bill explains that previous powers under section 11eeeee, which lapsed in 2016 due to a sunset clause, should “reinstate to strengthen the government, armed forces and civilian armed forces with the necessary authority to detain individuals who pose a significant threat to national security”.
The government claims that the provision would allow for preventive detention based on credible information or reasonable suspicion, enabling authorities to disrupt terrorist spaces before maturing.
‘Urgent shall not darken wisdom’
Defender The legislation told Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar to the senators, “Currently facing the threat of terrorism and amendments proposed by Syed Naveed Qamar, has already been incorporated to make it more effective.”
He pointed out that the bill had adopted legal control and included a three-year sunset clause. He also clarified that it would have been detained under Klause 2 of the amendment would have presented to the Magistrate within 24 hours.
However, PTI’s lawyer Syed Ali Zafar called for caution and said, “Some of its clauses are in violation of the law and the constitution, so the bill must be referred to the committee.”
“Today, we are asked to change one of the most powerful and most controversial laws in our statute book: Anti-terrorism,” said opposition legislator, adding that the law first came into being under extraordinary circumstances to protect Pakistan from extraordinary threats.
“But as legislators, we always have to remember: Any extraordinary power given to the state can be used and abused,” he warned.
He acknowledged that the Anti-Terrorism Act was made to get rid of the threat of terrorism that had destroyed the nation’s peace.
“There is no doubt that we have to eradicate terrorism from the country and punish the terrorists. There is also no doubt that we will fight against terrorism until the last and that together we win this match.”
However, he warned that “urgency must not eclipse wisdom”.
Barrister Ali Zafar also pointed out that the Supreme Court had investigated the provisions of existing anti -terrorism and decided that many of its provisions were against the Constitution. “It was only after the current law was passed and therefore there is no room for any changes in it. By adding any provision in the existing law and making it more draconic, it will only become constitutional.”
He complained that the amendment proposes that even a sho and withhold someone for a period of three months in prison, and the person in prison will have no use of the courts. “The government can call anyone a terrorist because of public order and imprisoned them,” he warned.
“We have to ask ourselves: Will this amendment make Pakistan more secure, or will it weaken the constitutional rights we swore an oath to protect?”
“Our duty is two -part: on the one hand to protect our citizens’ lives from the terrorist prayer; on the other, to defend these constitutional freedoms, without which Pakistan cannot remain a democratic state,” he emphasized.
“We have to perform a balancing act. Security must be balanced toward freedom and power against accountability,” he added.
‘No softness toward Militans’
PML-N-Senator Irfanul Haque Siddiqui claimed that no softness could be shown against armed militant conditions. “We do not want terrorists to roam freely, while innocent people are slaughtered … These actions weaken our Federation and create distrust between the people and the state.”
He said that legislators must either surrender to militants or legislate to resist them, arguing that such measures can “prevent crime and also limit forced disappearance and arbitrary detention”.
Siddiqui appealed to see anti -terror law in good faith rather than a political stick that emphasized the need for transparent government building communication with the public and the media.
