President Asif Ali Zardari has given his assent to the Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Bill, 2025, which empowers security forces with extended detention powers, and was passed through parliament amid opposition uproar.
“The law is designed to ensure transparency and accountability in detentions, with a built-in three-year sunset clause to limit its duration. It includes judicial oversight and safeguards to provide recourse against misuse and abuse of power, unlike past arbitrary practices,” said President Secretariat Press Wing in a statement issued on Sunday.
On August 19, the Senate passed the Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Act 2025, restoring lapsed powers that allow law enforcement agencies (LEA) and the armed forces to detain suspects for up to three months on grounds of national security.
Read: Forces regain extended detention powers with Senate nod
The legislation, which drew opposition criticism, amends sub-section (1) of Section 11EEEE of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, enabling preventive detention in cases such as target killings, extortion, and kidnapping for ransom, with oversight provided under Article 10 of the Constitution.
According to the amendment, “the government or, where the provisions of Section 4 have been invoked, the armed forces or civil armed forces for a period not exceeding three months and after recording reasons thereof, issue order for the preventative detention of any person”.
The ammended law states that persons suspected of activities against national security, including target killing, kidnapping for ransom and extortion, can be detained for three months, adding that it applies “against whom sufficient grounds exist of his having been so concerned, for purpose of inquiry”.
Detentions extending beyond this threshold will be subject to Article 10 of the Constitution, which provides safeguards with respect to arrest and detention.
Read More: ATA rearmed with preventive detention clause
According to the ammended law, previous powers under Section 11EEEE, which lapsed in 2016 due to a sunset clause, needed to be “re-inserted to empower the government, Armed Forces and Civil Armed Forces with the necessary authority to detain individuals who pose a significant threat to national security”.
The government contends the provision would allow for preventive detention based on credible information or reasonable suspicion, enabling authorities to disrupt terror plots before they mature.
The move has drawn criticism from the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) and other rights bodies, who have raised concerns over potential misuse of such sweeping powers.
The law was passed in Senate amid opposition protest, with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Barrister Ali Zafar pointing out that the Supreme Court had examined the provisions of the existing anti-terrorism act and decided that many of its provisions were against the constitution. “It was only after that that the present law was passed, and hence there is no room for any changes in it. By adding any provision in the existing law and making it more draconian, it will only become unconstitutional.”
He lamented that the amendment proposes that even an SHO could detain anybody for a period of three months in prison, and the person in prison will have no recourse to the courts. “The government can call anyone a terrorist on the grounds of public order and imprison them,” he warned.
“We must ask ourselves: will this amendment make Pakistan safer, or will it weaken the constitutional rights we swore an oath to protect?”
