ISLAMABAD: The Senate on Tuesday unanimously passed “The anti-terrorism amendment bill 2013”, the bill paves the way for law enforcement agencies to take action against those who finance acts of terrorism and those who benefit from the proceeds of such acts, Dispatch News Desk (DND) reported.
The bill, moved by Law Minister Farooq H Naek, amends the Anti-Terrorism Act‚ 1997. It needs to be signed by the President to become an act.
Previously, the National Assembly had unanimously passed The anti-Terrorism Bill 2013 on February 21, aiming to remove shortcomings in provisions relating to terror financing.
Before Law Minister Farooq H Naek presented the bill in the lower house, Interior Minister Rehman Malik had complained, once again, in the Senate that lawmakers were not able to approve the new anti-terrorism legislation “that has been pending in Parliament for too long now.”
This, he said, was one of the hindrances for security agencies in taking effective action against terrorists.
Under the new amendment, the definition of terrorism has been revisited to make it more precise. The relatively more ‘general’ definition of terrorism in Pakistan’s ATA 1997 has been criticised by national and international jurists.
In the new definitions, the law substitutes the words “proscribed organisations” with “an organisation concerned [with] terrorism or a terrorist”. It defines “money” as “coins or notes or any currency, postal orders, money orders, bank credits, bank accounts, letter of credit, traveler cheques, bankers’ drafts in any form, electronic, digital or otherwise and such other kinds of monetary instruments or documents as the federal government may by order specify.”
“It was a much-needed legislation, which we should have framed a long time ago,” said National Assembly Speaker Fehmida Mirza.
DND
