Senate Refers Anti-terrorism Bill To Committee For Consideration

Senate on Tuesday witnessed introduction of the Anti-Terrorism (Third Amendment) Bill, 2020 which was referred to the relevant committee for the consideration

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Sep, 2020 ) :Senate on Tuesday witnessed introduction of the Anti-Terrorism (Third Amendment) Bill, 2020 which was referred to the relevant committee for the consideration.

An independent lawmaker Sajjad Hussain Turi moved the bill which was taken by the House as supplementary business.

The lawmakers of PPP Raza Rabbani and Sherry Rehman and JUI-F Atta ur Rehman opposed the immediate tabling of the private members' bill on government business day and demanded to defer its introduction till next sitting.

However, the Chair allowed to table the motion for introduction of the bill after consent of the Leader of the House Shahzad Waseem and referred it to the relevant committee.

The bill seeks to insert Section 19C after section 19B in the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997. The new Section 19C is about application of investigation techniques and states,"The investigation officer, may with the permission of court, within sixty days of such permission, use techniques including undercover operation, intercepting communications, accessing computer system and controlled delivery for investigation of financing of terrorism under the law in force.

The aforementioned period of sixty days may be extended up to further period of sixty days by the Court on a request made to it in writing. The Court may grant extension, if it is satisfied, on the basis of situation/reasons given in the written request. The provision of this sub-section shall be addition to and not in derogation of any other law for the time being in force.

"The Federal government may make rules to regulate the procedure and execution of orders for the purpose of this section."According to Statement of Objects and Reasons,"Terror financing is one of the major obstacle which is not only playing a degrading role against the development of a country but also imbuing such elements with the financial means which are an ultimate threat against the internal and external peace of the country and the allies to the extent.

"The genuine purpose behind the introduction of this Bill is to enable the law enforcement authorities via aforementioned insertion to take certain encountering techniques with an authoritative support of the Courts of Law to curb with these menaces".