President Arif Alvi has signed the Official Secrets (Amendment) Bill, 2023 and Pakistan Army Act (Amendment) Bill, 2023 bill, only three days after he refused to sign over a dozen bills.
The changes in the Official Secrets Act and the Army Act will likely affect the PTI leaders and supporters who face a host of cases for their alleged involvement in the May 9 violence.
The FIA this week registered a new case against chairman PTI under Section 5 of the Official Secrets Act. He is being accused of leaking the diplomatic cipher at the heart of PTI’s claims about a US conspiracy for the removal of Khan.
Earlier this week, President Alvi returned over a dozen bills to Parliament.
He effectively culled those pieces of legislation. With the National Assembly dissolved on August 9, the Parliament cannot pass the legislation again and the laws could not be amended on enacted until a new parliament is sworn in after the election expected in February.
The National Assembly on Monday passed the Official Secrets (Amendment) Bill, 2023 after making some alterations to the original draft — just like the Senate had a day earlier.
What is Official Secrets (amendment) bill
The Official Secrets (Amendment) Bill, 2023, was passed by the National Assembly on August after it modified the original draft for the amendment.
The original draft empowered intelligence agencies to arrest suspects or conduct searches without warrants. This clause was dropped in the final version of the bill.
Another change was made to clause 5 of the bill, which earlier stated: “[A] person may be presumed to have been in communication with enemy or a foreign agent if he has, either within or without Pakistan visited the address of a foreign agent or consorted or associated with enemy or a foreign agent…”
What is Army Act (amendment) bill
The National Assembly passed the Army Act (Amendment) bill on July 31.
The amended law proposes up to five years in jail for those who disclose sensitive information pertaining to the security of the country or the military.
The bill also proposes introducing Section 26-B, which forbids any person subject to the army act from engaging in any kind of political activity for two years from the date of their “retirement, release, resignation, discharge, removal or dismissal from the service”.
