Warrantless arrest power withdrawn in Secrets Act

NA passes eight bills including Federal Prosecution Service Bill, 2023

ISLAMABAD:

The Official Secrets (Amendment) Bill, 2023, was finally approved by the government in the National Assembly on Monday, albeit with a crucial change. The provision granting intelligence agencies the authority to make arrests and seizures without warrants was removed from the proposed law.

Federal Minister for Law and Justice, Senator Azam Nazeer Tarar, reintroduced the bill in the assembly after it had already passed through the Senate with amendments. This step was necessary to seek renewed approval from the assembly.

Initially, the bill, proposed by the PML-N-led ruling coalition, had conferred agencies with the ability to conduct searches or seizures without the need for warrants. This provision removed the requirement for search warrants, which would typically be issued if a magistrate determined, based on sworn information, that reasonable grounds existed for an offense being committed or about to be committed.

The proposed section sub-section (2A) in Section 11 of the secrets act, which has now been omitted, had stated: “Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act or in any other law for the time being in force, the Intelligence Agencies may, at any time, enter and search any person or place, without warrant, and if necessary, by use of force, and seize any document, sketch, plan, model, article, note, weapon, ammunition, electronic or modern devices or anything of like nature, or anything which is or can be evidence of an offence committed, or suspecting of been committee, under this Act.”

The clause was omitted after senators had objected to it among other things. Owing to the senators’ objections, the government also amended section 4 (communication with enemy or foreign agents to be evidence of commission of certain offence). The proposed section said that “a person may be presumed to have been in communication with enemy or foreign agent if he has either within or outside Pakistan visited the address of a foreign agent or consorted or associated with enemy or a foreign agent.”

Senator Tarar had told the House that the word “knowingly” has been added in the clause to expel the impression that accidental visit would also be taken against the person concerned.

Apart from the official secrets act, the assembly passed eight bills on Monday night. They included the Federal Prosecution Service Bill, 2023; the National Commission for Minorities Bill, 2023; the Pakistan International Airline Corporation (Conversion) (Amendment) Bill, 2023; the Higher Education Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2023; The Federal Urdu University of Arts, Sciences and Technology, Islamabad (Amendment) Bill, 2023; The Federal Public Service Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2023; and the Price Control and Prevention of Profiteering and Hoarding (Amendment) Bill, 2023.