A critical amendment

Bill aims to make ridiculing the Pakistan Army and judiciary through any medium of propagation a punishable offence

A legislative bill to amend the Pakistan Penal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure is under the spotlight. Legislators in the ruling coalition dispensation are at each other’s throats, as many of them believe that the stringent version of amendment will compromise on fundamental rights. The bill aims to make it a punishable offence, up to five-year imprisonment, whosoever ridicules the Pakistan Army and the judiciary through any medium of propagation. Such moves to amend the law were in the pipeline earlier too, but could not see the light of the day owing to either political exigency or skeletons in the cupboard of people who matter at the helm of affairs.

The point is that the Constitution categorically spells out the sacrosanct importance of the armed forces, as well as the judiciary, and that spirit must live on. The bill has become a necessity, of late, especially keeping in view the diatribe and the irresponsibility that sections of the society had shown towards the two pillars of the state. Notwithstanding the substance of the opponents of the amendment, it must be realised that enforcing semblance and respect for national institutions as well as all those who hold public offices is the responsibility of the state and the government, and this aspect should not be politicised.

The cabinet committee formed to introspect the amendment has a national responsibility. It must come up with suggestions in all fairness, and legislators must speak their mind in the larger national interest. It remains to be seen, however, whether the application of the law will have retrospective effects or not. This is where the catch-22 situation rests. It is a writing on the wall that almost all political forces had resorted to ridiculing and calling into question the acts of both the national institutions, and this is a bad omen. Thus, opposition to the bill has a background synopsis. The proposed amendment must go ahead in all sincerity by protecting the civil rights of freedom of speech and association, and at the same time come to protect the custodians of the nation at the borders and in legal fiefdoms.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 9^th, 2023.

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