Amnesty International on Wednesday urged the government to halt plans to pass the Anti-Terrorism Act Amendment Bill 2024, saying it “does not comply with international human rights law and standards, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).”

Last month, the government quietly introduced a crucial bill in the National Assembly, seeking to grant military and civil armed forces the authority to keep individuals facing terrorism charges in ‘preventive’ detention for up to three months.

Deputy Speaker Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah referred the bill, which proposes amendments to the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) 1997, to the relevant committee for consideration immediately after Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar tabled it in the closing moments of a thinly attended session, without explaining its salient features.

The bill also includes provisions for establishing joint interrogation teams (JITs) composed of members from various law enforcement and intelligence agencies to conduct inquiries.

Amnesty International on Wednesday shared an open letter written to Tarar by the rights organisation’s Deputy Regional Director for South Asia, Babu Ram Pant.

The letter noted that if passed, the bill will “vest broad and discretionary powers to ‘armed forces’, including the military, naval and air forces of Pakistan, and ‘civil armed forces’, including the Frontier Constabulary, Frontier Corps, Pakistan Coast Guards, Pakistan Rangers or the police, to subject any individual to arbitrary detention, referred to as ‘preventive detention’, for up to three months.”

These civil and military bodies would be able to issue detention orders against any person suspected of committing offenses related to the ‘security or defence of Pakistan,’ ‘public order,’ or ‘maintenance of supplies or services’, the letter said.

“Amnesty International is deeply concerned by the involvement of the military in law enforcement operations.

“In the exceptional circumstances that they are allowed to temporarily support the police, the authorities must remain under the command of civilian law enforcement and ensure that the deployed military officials have received appropriate instructions and training on policing in a human rights compliant way and follow the same international human rights law and standards as law enforcement officials,” the letter stated.

“None of these safeguards are envisioned in the amendment.”

The ATA came into focus during a recently concluded Pakistan’s ICCPR review at the UN Human Rights Committee which highlighted concern “about reports of the disproportionate impact of the application of the law on human rights defenders, members of ethnic and religious groups, journalists, dissidents and activists”, the letter said.

“Amnesty International has previously noted that the Act lacks legal safeguards and the first and fourth schedules have been used to proscribe peaceful grassroots movements,” it said, adding that using the law, Pakistani authorities had “arbitrarily detained human rights defenders and political opposition,” such as members and supporters of the PTI.

“The proposed detention powers threaten to expand the authorities’ ability to continue these violations with increased legal cover,” the letter went on to say.

Amnesty noted that it was also concerned that the bill was presented in the NA without any consultation with civil society, “particularly human rights organizations, who have raised concerns regarding the misuse of anti-terrorism laws.”

It went on to say that over the past two years, “legislation have been rushed and passed through both houses of Parliament without adequate opportunity for debate and consideration of human rights.”

The rights organisation urged the minister to immediately withdraw the ATA Amendment Bill and instead engage in meaningful consultation with civil society organizations to conduct a comprehensive reform of Pakistan’s anti-terrorism laws to ensure its compliance with international human rights law and standards.