The Sindh Assembly on Wednesday unanimously passed the Sindh Witness Protection Bill 2013, which will now give legal protection to witnesses as well as their families, and enable them to provide evidence in criminal proceedings.
| There are the laws on the books, and the laws that are enforced. Pakistan has plenty of the former. |
The Sindh Assembly is the first elected assembly in the country to pass what some experts say is a landmark law and will help bring forward more witnesses in important criminal and terrorism cases. The new legislation allows witnesses to conceal their identities by wearing a mask, changing their voice and appearance as well as any other form of segregation during investigation or trial, and also allows the use of modern technology, such as video conferencing.
It also provides the room for relocation of witnesses in an attempt to keep them safe and protect them form the dangers of being targeted by the criminals, and also allows provision of accommodation to the witnesses.
Sindh Law Minister Dr Sikandar Mandhro, who is also the minister for parliamentary affairs, told the assembly that the law has been made in view of increasing incidents of terrorism and crimes in the province, where most of the times the witnesses refuse to come forward or give evidence in criminal cases for fear of life. |