The government has decided to bring in a new law that would arm security and intelligence agencies with modern techniques of surveillance and collecting evidence to ensure that no culprit escaped punishment for lack of proof.Law Minister Farooq Naek told Dawn on Tuesday that the Fair Trial Act of 2012 would be among three to four other laws that the federal cabinet would consider at a meeting on Wednesday.
The minister said if the laws were approved by the cabinet, the government would table them in parliament during the ongoing sessions of the National Assembly and the Senate. He said the Fair Trial Act of 2012 was being promulgated to ensure that no culprit, particularly those involved in acts of terrorism, managed to win release from the courts because of lack of evidence or through intimidation of witnesses and even judges.
The government had introduced a bill to amend the Anti-Terrorism Act in the Senate some two years ago, but the house committee on
interior, headed by a JUI-F Senator, did nothing.
The minister said the law was aimed at providing investigation for collection of evidence by means of modern techniques and devices to prevent and effectively deal with scheduled offences and to regulate powers of law-enforcement and intelligence agencies.
Explaining the term 'scheduled offences', the minister said there was a long list of laws that dealt with different kinds of offences such as the Pakistain Nuclear Regulation Act and the Explosives Act.
Mr Naek said the law would also prevent security and intelligence agencies from using arbitrary powers and to provide for permissible and fair uses in accordance with the law and under proper executive and judicial oversight keeping in view Article 10-A of the Constitution.
The existing laws, he said, had no provision for modern investigative techniques such as covert surveillance, human intelligence, eavesdropping and communication interception.