Detention distress!

The piece of legislation that grants military and civil armed forces the powers to detain suspects for up to three months has stirred fear and suspicion. At a time when human rights violations have broadly been reported across the country based on political victimisation, this new law is feared to further the sense of otherness and alleged highhandedness. The Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Bill, 2024, passed by the National Assembly, however, is not new as the same had been in force till 2016, and lapsed due to a sunset clause. It was introduced after the 2014 Army Public School attack in Peshawar, and had been instrumental in broadly exterminating the terror nexus. Reviving it with new fervour at a time when the country is infected with terrorism is a much-needed move, but it surely needs to be guaranteed that it would not be misused against dissenting voices and political opponents.

The law, passed on the eve of Independence Day, has come with a bad taste. Critics in the civil society, lawfare and political circles question its utility when a plethora of similar litigations are there to deal with terror suspects. Especially, as the armed forces have been included in the orbit, it has come with a more lethal touch. It is, however, not known whether the detainees will be produced before the magistrate within 24 hours as per Penal Code, or they will continue to languish in shadows at the mercy of authorities for 180 days. While the bill says that the detention shall be on the basis of "credible information or reasonable suspicion", one hopes better sense will prevail and there won't be tales of midnight knocks and arbitrary disappearances.

A clause in the amendment, sub-section 2 Section 11EEEE (preventive detention for inquiry), is quite vexing as any "suspicious person" could be held for three months. This needs some detailing and must ensure that fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution are not thrown to the wind. The fact that JITs comprising members of law-enforcement and intelligence agencies will conduct inquiries must come with public trial, so that the merits of detention and prosecution are assured as per law.