Pakistan

Proposed amendment: MQM moves bill in NA against extortion

Pakistan has no specific laws to punish extortionists

Zahid Gishkori October 17, 2014

ISLAMABAD: In a bid to curtail the growing menace of extortion in the country, the members of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) in National Assembly moved the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2014, for insertion of a new section in Pakistan Penal Code, 1860 — a move to stop extortion related crimes.

Currently, Pakistan has no specific laws to punish extortionists or those committing cybercrimes. “We want to insert new section [A] in 389 to stop extortion. Under new laws culprit shall be punished with seven to ten years’ imprisonment,” said MNA Kishwar Zehra, who moved the proposed bill. “Fresh legislation is inevitable to prevent extortion — it’s a serious crime.”

If we look at the stats from Karachi only, 2014 will be a record year for extortion demands when Karachi police registered more than 1,330 extortion complaints as compared to 891 during last year, official reports suggested. If this proposed bill, lying with NA Standing Committee on Interior and Narcotics, gets passed from parliament in near future, then “whoever tries to commit extortion by threatening a person whether through telephone or by using text messages or electronic emails, he shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which extended to ten years.”

MQM’s four MNAs — Kishwar Zehra, Sheikh Salahuddin, Saman Jafri and Dr Nikhat Sakeel — jointly signed the proposed bill and stated that the extortion is becoming order of the day and an alternative source of wealth for criminals. The businessmen and common men live in fear and extortionists are creating unrest in society. In March this year, speaker national assembly Ayaz Sadiq had referred this bill to the national assembly standing committee on interior and narcotics.

Pakistan Penal Code, 1860, has chapter of ‘Extortion’ in which Section 389 states: “Putting person in fear of accusation of offence, in order to commit extortion.” But it does not specify the punishments for those who commit such crimes.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 17^th, 2014.