NIAS Area Studies
PAKISTAN READER
Photo : Dawn
In Brief
POLITICS
Senators decry government decision granting special powers to security forces in Balochistan
On 6 September, Senators disapproved of the government decision granting security forces special powers to detain those suspected of terrorism for 3 months. Earlier, the federal cabinet approved amendments to the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) 1997, to ensure “more effective counterterrorism operations.” The government decision came in the backdrop of growing unrest in Balochistan where innocent civilians and security forces are being attacked by terrorists.
National Party senator Jan Muhammad Buledi said that such legislation would allow security personnel to enter people’s houses without a search warrant and even arrest people. He warned of the government “misusing its majority” via party-line vote to get its amendments approved at the parliament. He was of the opinion that the use of force was not the answer to the growing crisis in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. He explained this claim by citing an incident where his party’s vice president was arrested during a raid at his house. When the latter asked for an arrest warrant, his head was smacked into the wall. Senator Buledi also lamented “enforced disappearances” in Balochistan which “has set the entire province on fire.” He said: “It appears that the law would give legal cover to the phenomenon of enforced disappearances.” Another Senate member who is also a JUI-F lawmaker, Kamran Murtaza regretted discriminatory treatment towards the locals of Balochistan by granting the security personnel extra power. He asked: “What message will go out to the world when Balochistan has been made a “no-go area”.” (Ifthikar A Khan, “Senators oppose special powers for security forces ,” Dawn, 7 September)
Election Commission turns down PTI’s pleas in intra party elections case
On 7 October, Dawn reported that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has rejected Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s recent pleas in a case centering on internal elections. The party had made two requests to the ECP. First, to issue orders to the Federal Investigation Agency to return the record which was taken during a raid conducted on PTI’s secretariat. Second, to pause its judgment on the elections’ reserved seats case until the Supreme Court issued a detailed judgment on the issue and gave the commission directives regarding implementation of its verdict. However, the ECP released a 10-page order which rejected all of PTI’s pleas, reasoning that the commission had the authority to regulate the election polls. The order refers to Section 208 and Section 209 of the Election Act. It reads: “We are of the considered view that Election Commission of Pakistan, before whom the documents were submitted by the party, is duty bound to verify that mandatory requirements of Section 208 of the Elections Act, 2017 have been fulfilled by the party, prior to publication of certificate under Section 209 (3) of the Elections Act, 2017.” It also highlighted a list of complaints filed by PTI members to the ECP, regarding elections conducted on 3 March. The complaints involved the non-provision of voter list and nomination forms, rejection of nomination papers and even restrictions posed by funding and ideological members to contest in the election and so on. The order said: “In such circumstances, Election Commission of Pakistan is fully empowered and duty bound under Sections 208, 209, 202 (2) and 215 of the Elections Act of 2017 to look into the matter, whether a political party has conducted its intra-party election as per law and party constitution or otherwise.” (Ifthikar A Khan, “ECP rejects PTI pleas in intra-party polls case ,” Dawn, 7 September)
Bill on peaceful assembly passed by the NA despite opposition
On 6 September, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf staged protests against the passing of the Peaceful Assembly and Public Order Bill, 2024 at the National Assembly. This bill has already received approval from the SenateThe bill dictates that in order to organize a planned assembly, a written application must be submitted to the district for approval, at least seven days before the event. Further, the magistrate has the authority to revoke permission in case if there’s a security concern or risk. If the district magistrate’s decision is defied then the guilty may face imprisonment for three years. PTI has called it an authoritarian act, to which Law Minister Azam Naseer Tarar responded that large assemblies in recent times have made life difficult for the capital residents and even besieged Islamabad. Another bill which received Senate approval was theElection Bill 2024. It was moved by Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Azam Nazeer Tarar. The bill amends Section 232 of the 2017 Election Act. It removes the “FATA” acronym as FATA has been merged into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. (Asim Yasin, “Amid PTI protest: NA passes bills on public order, election law changes ,” The News International, 7 September)
Government carries out austerity drive to cut down non-productive costs
On 7 September, The News International reported that a circular titled “Austerity Measures for Controlling Expenditures of the Federal Government” has been circulated to the President’s house, the Prime Minister’s House, the Auditor General of Pakistan and other ministries in an effort to cut-down on non-development expenditures. This notification is an outcome of the cabinet’s decision. The austerity measures call for a ban on expenditure on purchase of vehicles, except for ambulances, buses, procurement machinery or equipment except for those used in hospitals, labs, agriculture and so on. It also bans contingent paid/temporary posts, treatment abroad at the government’s expense, and purchase of durables.. Creation of new posts with the help of Public Sector Development Programme funds will also be banned by this drive. (Mehtab Haider, “Govt bans six major expenditures under austerity drive ,” The News International, 7 September)
HEALTH
Fresh polio case detected in Islamabad after 16 years
On 7 September, Dawn reported on a statement by the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio at the National Institute of Health. It said that a fresh polio virus case was reported in Islamabad’s Union Council Rural 4. This was has added to the already confirmed 16 cases. Additionally, environmental samples collected from 64 districts reveals presence of the wild poliovirus (WPV1) across all the provinces. Coordinator of National Emergency Operations Centre for Polio Eradication, Muhammad Anwarul Haq said that the government was “ramping up efforts” to vaccinate every child against polio. Responding to the issue, the prime minister’s pivot person on polio eradication Ayesha Raza Farooq said that an “in-depth consultative sessions with the provinces and districts” have been organized. She stated that a campaign has been launched in which teams will go house-to-house to vaccinate more than 33 million children below five, across 115 districts. An expert in the policymaking process linked this issue to a number of mistakes by Pakistan’s partner in the polio programme. They stated that the country may have to start from scratch. Despite, “following successful and synchronized high-quality campaigns” in 2021 and its wiping out from core areas namely, Karachi, Quetta, Peshawar and Khyber, “the virus was struggling to survive in its last hideouts confined to small pockets in south KP,” said the expert. The decision which replaced “the government-accountable leadership by partner paid staff” was what led to the growing tally of cases. This was followed by frontline workers being left “unsupervised without required facilitation and support” and failure of communication which did not address “people’s misconceptions” surrounding the virus. (Ikram Junaidi, “Polio case reported from Islamabad after 16 year,” Dawn, 7 September)
JUDICIARY
Apex court reinstates anti-corruption law amendments on federation’s pleas
On 6 September, the Supreme Court yielded to the government’s appeal against the 15 September verdict. This development comes after the former Chief Justice accepted Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader’s 2022 petition in September 2023, on changes made to the National Accountability Bureau laws as unconstitutional. Several amendments were made to the NAB laws by the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) government. The amendments include reduction of the NAB chairs and prosecutor general’s term, limiting the agency’s jurisdiction to cases that involve a monetary amount of PKR 500 million and so on. The hearing restored corruption cases filed against prominent leaders. The verdict was delivered by a 2-1 vote and dissented by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah. The Sept 15 verdict stated that the amendments to the law rewrote the Constitution and other statutes. The verdict also noted that at that time Khan’s appeal to the court was not “in a bona fide matter,” in fact, he “did not have the requisite locus standi since the amendments neither adversely nor personally affected him (Imran).”
Leading a 5 judge bench, Chief Justice Qazi Faiz Isa announced a 16 page verdict. The verdict said: “The chief justice and the judges of the Supreme Court are not the gatekeepers of parliament” and that the court “must try to uphold legislation rather than rush to strike it down.” The judgment expressed that incase two or more interpretations of legislations exist, then the interpretation that upholds it must be adopted. The judgment essentially reversed the September 15 ruling. Justice Athar Minallah, was a also a member of the present bench, disapproved of it as the federation’s appeals were not in tandem with “section 5 of the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act, 2023.” He opined that appeals made by private citizens were more acceptable. He agreed with Justice Shah’s note of dissent in the Imran Khan case to a certain extent. He accepted his dissent: to the effect that members of the armed forces and judges of the constitutional courts are not immune from accountability.” The court observed that the impugned judgment’s claims of fundamental laws violations were not substantiated with enough “explanation.” (Abdullah Momand, “SC restores changes to NAB laws, accepts appeals against previous ruling,” Dawn, 6 September; Sohail Khan, “SC restores NAB law tweaks made by PDM govt,” The News International, 7 September)
ENERGY
Three-year survey reveals presence of oil and gas reserves in Pakistan’s waters
On 6 September, a senior security official revealed that significant deposits of petroleum and gas have been found through a geographical survey conducted in Pakistan’s territorial waters. He termed it as a “blue water economy” which has the potential to yield other valuable minerals, besides oil and gas. Though proposals are being formulated on bidding and exploration, he said that the process of digging wells may take several years. Speaking to Dawn NewsTV, former member of Ogra, Muhammad Arif was skeptical of whether the country could be certain of finding the quantity of reserves which match their expectations. He said: “If this is a gas reserve, it can replace LNG imports and if these are oil reserves, we can substitute imported oil.” Contrastingly, he termed it “wishful thinking” until the prospects of reserves are verified as exploration itself demands a USD 5 billion investment and may take four to five years to extract the reserves. (“Massive oil, gas reserves found in Pakistani waters: senior security official ,” Dawn, 7 September)
SECURITY
Government seeks ulema’s intervention in countering terrorism
On 6 September, Interior Minister Senator Mohsin Raza Naqvi and Minister for Religious Affairs Chaudhry Salik Hussain expressed views with a delegation of religious leaders led by Ruet-i-Hilal committee chairman Maulana Abdul Khabeer Azad on counter-terrorism measures and religious intolerance. They were able to arrive at a decision where a series of talks with ulemas will be conducted on terrorism and religious intolerance.. At the meeting,lay emphasis on stopping “the misuse of Islam and prevent people from being misled into terrorism.” He opined that those who opposed the state with arms were terrorists as both the religion and the Constitution of Pakistan promoted this idea. He further added that scholarly intervention is required to get out the menacing environment created by terrorists stating that the nation needed to “unite” in order to “eliminate terrorism.” On the other hand, Hussain opined: “We need to save the new generation from guns and fire, and the government, institutions, and scholars need to work together to provide a safe future for the new generation.” (Kabe Ali, “Govt asks ulema to play key role in countering terrorism ,” Dawn, 7 September)
Security forces eliminate nine militants in separate incidents
On 7 September, the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) released a statement which said that the security forces have killed a group of four suicide bombers who had attempted an attack on the Frontier Corps Headquarters. The statement said that “The attempt to enter the camp was effectively thwarted by the security forces personnel, and resultantly the khwarij, all four suicide bombers, were sent to hell before they could cause the intended damage.” This is part of the military’s sanitization operation in the area. The military’s media wingfurther added that “Pakistan security forces stand valiant, with the sheer determination and resolve, to wipe out the menace of terrorism from the country.” Separately, five terrorists were eliminated by security personnel in the Surkhab refugee camp in Pishin district, on the same day. Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) spokesman said that a large cache of arms and ammunition were recovered from the terrorists’ hideout. (“Security personnel kill four terrorists in Mohmand: ISPR ,” The News International, 7 September)