President’s tweet sparks legal chaos

President Dr. Arif Alvi created a stir on Sunday by claiming that he had not signed the Official Secrets (Amendment) Bill and the Pakistan Army (Amendment) Bill, attributing the confusion to his staff's actions. This revelation plunged the country into a state of chaos.

In a social media post, the President vehemently denied giving his assent to the two bills. He admitted, however, that his staff failed to return the bills to parliament within the stipulated 10-day timeframe mandated by Article 75 of the Constitution. He accused his staff of not only deceiving him but also undermining his authority, effectively concealing the fact that the bills had not been returned.

Alvi said that he found out on Sunday that the bills had not been returned within the stipulated timeframe, adding that on his repeated enquiries from his staff he got the assurance every time that the bills were returned.

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“As God is my witness, I did not sign Official Secrets Amendment Bill 2023 & Pakistan Army Amendment Bill 2023 as I disagreed with these laws,” the President said in his post.

“I asked my staff to return the bills unsigned within the stipulated time to make them ineffective,” Alvi stated, “I confirmed from them many times whether they have been returned and was assured that they were,” he continued.

“However, I have found out today that my staff undermined my will and command,” he said, as he went on to “ask forgiveness from those who will be effected (sic)” by the development.

However, Presidency sources made it clear that neither the president nor anyone else had committed any forgery as had been speculated that the bills carried bogus signatures of the president.

They said that action could be taken against officials concerned, who didn’t obey the president’s orders, under the Government Servants (Efficiency and Discipline) Rules, 1973.

Usually, the sources added, the president issued a directive for conducting an inquiry and then a committee was constituted to investigate the matter.

Soon after the president’s tweet, the caretaker government reminded him of the two options of either giving assent or referring the matter to parliament with specific observations.

The law minister and the information ministers also claimed that “the president purposely delayed the assent.” They said that the Army Amendment Bill was sent for his assent on August 2, while the Official Secrets Act Bill was sent on August 8.

Meanwhile, political parties, among others, lashed out at the president for “deliberately” delaying signing the bills. They demanded that the president should immediately resign if his staff were not under his control.

The political parties supported the caretaker government's position, asserting that should the President hold onto the bill for over 10 days, it would automatically be enacted as law.

They said that the Constitution allowed only two options to the president when a bill was sent to him: approve within 10 days as Alvi had done so many times; or return it with observations in 10 days that the president had also done so many times.

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Reportedly, the Senate Secretariat also published the acts in the gazette of Pakistan, stating that the acts of Parliament – the Pakistan Army (Amendment) Act 2023 and the Official Secrets Act 2023 – deemed to have been assented by the president with effect from August 11 and August 17, respectively.

The army bill, which was moved by then defence minister Khawaja Asif, incorporates various sections and enhances the scope of the Pakistan Army Act, 1952.

Under the newly-inserted Section 175-E (national development), it has been proposed that the “Pakistan Army may, upon direction or with the concurrence of relevant authorities of the appropriate government in the prescribed manner, directly or indirectly, carry out activities related to, inter alia, national development and advancement of national or strategic interest”.

The section further states that “all such activities already undertaken shall be deemed to be and always to have been validly done under this act”, retrospectively giving legal cover to the past activities.

Under the Section 175-D (welfare through affiliated entities), it has been stated that the Pakistan Army may, in a manner as may be prescribed through its “affiliated entities”, carry out activities that relate to or “generate proceeds” for, inter alia, welfare and rehabilitation of serving and retired personnel of the Pakistan Army, wounded personnel, as well as families of martyrs.

This section, too, gives legal cover to the past activities by stating that all such activities already undertaken shall always be deemed to have been validly done under this act. The Section 175-C also deals with the welfare and rehabilitation of “affiliated entities”.

Among other things, a newly inserted Section 6-A (unauthorised disclosure of identities, etc) in the Official Secrets Act states that a “person shall commit an offence who intentionally acting in any manner prejudicial to public order, safety, interest or defence of Pakistan, or any part thereof, discloses in such a manner that exposes the identity of such undisclosed persons in any manner the identity of the members of the intelligence agencies, or the informants or sources thereof”.

The proposed offence carries punishment of imprisonment for a term, which may extend to three years or a fine extending to Rs1 million or both.