President signs Investigation for Fair Trial Bill into law

President Asif Ali Zardari Wednesday signed the Fair Trial Bill into law, which empowers the security agencies to intercept private communications in order to catch terrorists.

Under the new law, intelligence and law enforcement agencies will now be able to tap phone calls, emails, SMS, internet communication and conduct human intelligence of any individual on suspicion of their involvement in terrorist activities.

The evidence collected through such surveillance will also be admissible in a court of law, subject to issuance of prior surveillance warrants by a judge.

The bill, which was passed in December 2012, had triggered a controversy after certain quarters felt that the wire-tapping powers would threaten privacy and civil liberties.

However, the Senate unanimously passed the ordinance earlier this month despite objections from both the opposition as well as government allies.

The rights groups and members of the civil society had criticized the bill with concerns that it would hit civil liberties of the citizens.

The bill was passed by the National Assembly on December 20, 2012 and by the Senate on February 1, 2013.

The President also signed the Trade Organization Bill, 2013 into law. The signing ceremony was attended by Minister for Finance Salim H Mandviwala, Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Farooq H. Naik, some federal ministers, Governor State Bank of Pakistan and high ranking officials.

The Trade Organization Bill, 2013 was passed by the National Assembly on November 19 last year and by Senate on February 6.

Spokesperson Senator Farhatullah Babar said that the bill was aimed at providing for the registration and regulation of trade organizations to ensure appropriate representation of all genders and business sectors at all levels in trade organizations as they played a significant role in developing policy framework for improving business environment and economic growth.

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Posted by Tahir Khan on Feb 20 2013. Filed under Latest News, National, Pakistan, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.