Pakistan gets its ‘Patriot Act’

The government, which once promised to do away with Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR), has given sweeping powers to the armed forces to detain any person in the country suspecting his or her involvement in terrorist activities, according to a document titled “Regulation to provide actions in aid of civil power in the Federally Administrated Tribal areas (FATA)” available with Pakistan Today.
An inside source also told Pakistan Today that President Asif Ali Zardari had given approval to the new law in Karachi on June 22 after it was discussed by the federal cabinet on June 15. According to the document, the interning authority, which would be the armed forces officer appointed by the governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa or any other named by the officer appointed by the governor as an interning authority, may detain any person, not necessarily from FATA or PATA, if he or she was suspected being involved with terrorists or their actions.

In Chapter V of the Regulation, it has been stated: “The Interning Authority may intern any person who may not be in the defined areas (FATA), but is suspected of having committed acts or has nexus with actions pertaining to terrorism.”
The new law also added that such persons would be kept in internment centres to be headed by an officer appointed by the governor. “The power to intern shall be valid from the day when this regulation is deemed to have come into force, or the date the order of internment is issued, whichever is earlier, till the continuation of action in aid of civil power,” the document states.
In Chapter III of the new regulation pertaining to the conduct of the armed forces, it has been said that if any abuse or misuse of force by armed forces during actions in aid of civil authority is alleged or attributed, only the armed forces would probe the issue.
Apart from terrorist actions, the new law also added that anyone “suspected of an act of challenging the writ of the government”, or an act that threatened peace and fundamental rights of the people shall be deemed as a criminal under the new regulation. The law would be deemed to have taken effect from February 2008.
The new law refuted the claims of the government that it had re-established its writ in many areas and now “gains should be consolidated through civil and political means”. The new law, on the contrary, allows for the presence of the armed forces for an indefinite period in the tribal areas and covers their actions.
It has been said in the first page of the document that continuous presence of the armed forces in territories secured from miscreants is necessary. “Continuous stationing of armed forces in territories that have been secured from the miscreants in FATA is necessary and it is, therefore, imperative that a proper authorisation be given to the armed forces to take certain measures for incapacitating the miscreants by interning them during the continuation of the actions in aid to civil power,” the document states.
Some tribal leaders reportedly had met the governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa recently and expressed their concerns regarding the law. Terming it crueler than the FCR, the FATA tribal leaders had said that it would be prone to misuse and abuse of authority even against the peaceful tribal people. Though the law is FATA-specific, it is feared that it would affect other areas of the country as well.