Senate has passed the Anti-Terrorism Amendment Bill 2025 which has been presented by Minister of State Interior Talal Chaudhry. The action was met with uproar in the Upper House with the legislators expressing serious concerns regarding the implications of the legislation.
Senator Pir Noor-ul-Haq Qadri emphasized that the presence of terrorism should never be supported but he doubted that the amendment would reduce or enhance the same. He tried to discourage the gap between the citizen and the security agencies and advised that the Council of Islamic Ideology needed to be consulted in a bid to streamline the law in the face of religious principle.
JUI-F Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman here stated that the bill depicts all citizens as convicts. He denounced the grant of three years custody with possible extensions as inhuman in the discretion of SHO. He continued by stating that the voices of Balochistan, FATA and KP were unheard and claimed new victims were being created rather than solving extremism because the laws that are used against us are not just.
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Criticizing this, the Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar explained that under the preventive detention, only ninety days of period would be legal under court supervision. He promised to eliminate the possibility of anyone being arrested on mere suspicion and a review board made up of judges would take account of all detentions. According to him, the bill seeks to prevent enforced disappearance and at the same time balance constitutional rights and national security.
Anti-Terrorism Amendment Bill 2025, therefore, attempts to toughen the war on terror but also gives assurance of court protection to the citizens.
