A better version of the PPO

Relative to what PPO was allowing, the new proposed version involves more judicial oversight.

The move by the opposition to submit a ‘diluted’ version of the draconian Protection of Pakistan Ordinance (PPO) in the Senate should be hailed and the government would do well to adopt the suggested changes. While the problematic loopholes present in the old anti-terror laws were indeed a point of contention, the answer was never going to be to jump to the other extreme — that is, revamping the laws to legalise the trampling of basic human rights by the state.

And that is exactly what the PPO was doing. Called the Protection of Pakistani Citizens’ Act (PPCA), the new version of the law submitted by the opposition still has plenty of bite — and many could correctly argue that it still infringes upon basic rights, which it does. But relative to what the PPO was allowing, which basically gave carte blanche to the security establishment, the new proposed version involves more judicial oversight. The new bill is also said to have proposed cutting down the remand period in half — from 90 to 45 days, and will involve intermittent production in front of an authority. The remand is not extendable more than thrice.

The bid to arm the legal system of Pakistan with more effective anti-terrorism laws is an important one, and the opposition’s move to give constructive input, instead of merely launching into protests against the PPO and criticism of the government, is also a welcome move. This is a healthy sign for democracy. On that note, some praise should also be reserved for the government. The ruling party and its allies had the numbers to simply bulldoze the PPO through Parliament. Even if the Senate, which is dominated by the opposition, had not passed the draconian ordinance, the law would have allowed the government to call a joint sitting of the Upper and Lower Houses of Parliament and try to pass the law, which it would have been able to do given its overwhelming majority in the National Assembly. But they didn’t take that route and there is said to have been plenty of discussions on the matter between the opposition and government on the matter. There’s nothing more encouraging than seeing political forces work across the aisles on such important issues.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 25^th, 2014.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.