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| 11 January 2004 | Sunday | 18 Ziqa'ad 1424 |
Offenders to get 10 years jail: Terror funding made non-bailable act
ISLAMABAD, Jan 10: The cabinet on Saturday approved amendments to the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 and increased the minimum and maximum punishment for financiers of terrorism, besides making it a non-bailable offence.
Briefing reporters about the cabinet decisions, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said the decision to amend the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 had been taken in the light of the UN Security Council resolutions.
According to the amendments, any individual or entity involved in financing of terrorism shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term of four to ten years instead of six months to five years as stipulated up to now under section 11(N) of the Act.
Financing of terrorism shall be a non-bailable offence and all societies and other institutions which have a potential to act as conduits for such financing shall be obliged to establish bank accounts and maintain information about their employees, clients, etc., failing which they will face fine and revocation of licence.
He said the cabinet also approved transfer of the control of Federal Levies to the provincial governments of the NWFP and Balochistan along with the budget provisions.
The minister said the cabinet had formally approved the Telecom Deregulation Policy, already agreed to in principle in July 2003.
He said under the policy the validity of the licence for long loop and long distance international telecom services had been fixed at 20 years. The information technology and telecom division will notify the approved policy which will be reviewed after every five years, he said.
He said the policy was designed to achieve the objectives of provision of telecom services at competitive and affordable rates, infrastructure development and increase in private sector investment in the telecommunications sector, with minimum exposure to government revenue base in the short term and enable the PTA to invite expressions of interest from potential investors.
Replying to a question, the minister said those who had made attempt on the life of Gen Pervez Musharraf had been arrested and an inquiry into the incident had entered its final phase.
He said the government would soon trace the masterminds of the incident. He said the cabinet had requested the president to shift his residence from Rawalpindi to Islamabad for security reasons.
The cabinet, he said, also approved a draft bill to make Hydrocarbon Development Institute of Pakistan an autonomous body under the ministry of petroleum and natural resources.
He said the cabinet had approved an amendment to simplify the process of entry of financial institutions into the Corporate and Industrial Restructuring Corporation (CIRC) programme.
Besides, he said, the cabinet accorded approval to an agreement with Vietnam to avoid double taxation and prevent fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income, and ratified the Sixth Additional Protocol to the Constitution of Universal Postal Union.
The cabinet approved an amendment to the Press, Newspapers, News Agencies and Books Registration Ordinance, 2003, empowering the district magistrate, Islamabad, to exercise the powers of the district coordination officers. He said the district magistrate, Islamabad, had been authorized to grant declaration to newspapers and magazines in the capital.
Replying to another question, he said there was no plan to allow Indian channels to beam their programmes to Pakistan.
The minister told newsmen that Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali lauded the services and efforts made by the ministries of information, foreign affairs and interior in particular for making the Saarc summit a success.
Without naming the event, he said the prime minister had also directed the ministries to get ready for another big event in the capital.
Commenting on the passage of the 17th Constitutional Amendment Bill, the prime minister said it was a leap forward in the democratization process. He thanked all the parliamentary groups, including the MMA, for making it possible.
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