ISLAMABAD, Feb 20: The human rights committee of the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) has said that recent amendments to the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1977, reflect the contempt of the military government towards the judiciary.

“This is an expression of a total lack of confidence in the learning, integrity and competence of this judiciary of this country”, a resolution, passed by the committee at a meeting here on Wednesday, says.

The resolution states that by introducing the amendments, the government has attempted to equate army personnel with judicial officers, negating the concept of an independent judiciary and trichotomy of powers in a federal system.

The committee is of the view that the amendments to the ATC are in conflict with Supreme Court decisions and in direct violation of the rule laid down by the apex court in the cases of Syed Zafar Ali Shah, Mehran Ali, Shaikh Liaquat Hussain and Azizullah Memon.

The committee anticipates negative consequences of an amendment to section 19 of the ATA, whereby investigations into crimes would be conducted by a joint team, comprising a police officer not below the rank of inspector and an officer from any other investigating agencies, including intelligence agencies, whom the federal government or the provincial governments may nominate.

By this scheme, the military government is seeking to displace civilian authority in investigations into crimes as well, it says, adding that the intelligence agencies are now being authorized by law to implicate and investigate civilians, in effect, extending the provisions of the Army Act to civilians at large.

The HR committee also notes with shock the amendment to section 28 of the ATA, 1997, through which the power of a high court judge to transfer the cases from an anti-terrorism court to another court has been taken away and conferred on the chief justice of a high court.

It warns of the changes’ adverse reflections on the working of other judges of the high court and great hardships, inconvenience and problems to the accused and their families, saying that it shows that the military government is ignorant of the principle that the chief justice of a high court is only primo inter pares (first among equals) and the amendment implies a slur on his peers.

The resolution fully endorses the stand taken by members of the Lahore High Court Bar Association and the Punjab Bar Council and assures all the bar councils and associations of its full support for a joint struggle for the unconditional withdrawal of the amendments.

The meeting was attended by Rasheed A. Razvi, Muhammad Yousuf Leghari, Abu’l Inam, Hafiz Abdul Rehman Ansari, H. Shakil Ahmed, Hamid Khan, Abdul Rahim Kazi and Abdul Haleem Pirzada.