The National Assembly on Monday passed "The Mutual Legal Assistance (Criminal Matters) Bill, 2019" for providing legal support to the requesting state (foreign country) by executing necessary actions on its territory in criminal cases warranting shared assistance.
Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan moved the bill in the House for passage. The House passed the bill with majority vote. According to objects and reasons of the Bill, "Increase in international organized crime has made it imperative for international community including Pakistan to improve effectiveness of legal instruments. Lack of uniformity in law and weak coordination mechanism between countries affect combating of crimes across borders.
In order to overcome these challenges, legal cover is essentially required."
According to clause 4 of the Bill, "Functions of the central authority.- (l) The central authority shall have all such powers as may be necessary to perform its duties and functions under this Act. (2) Without prejudice to the generality of sub-section (1), the central authority shall be authorized to: (a) make a request on behalf of Islamic Republic of Pakistan to the appropriate authority of a country for mutual legal assistance in an investigation commenced, or proceedings instituted in Islamic Republic of Pakistan relating to a criminal offence committed, or suspected on reasonable grounds to have been committed within or outside of Pakistan; (b) receive and deal with requests received from the appropriate authority of a country or mutual legal assistance in any investigation commenced, or proceedings instituted in that country relating to an offence committed, or suspended on reasonable grounds to have been committed within or courtside that country; (c) certify or authenticate or arrange for the certification and authentication of any documents or other material supplied in response to a request for assistance; (d) take practical measures to facilitate the orderly and rapid disposition of request for assistance; (e) make any arrangements deemed necessary in order to transit the evidentiary material gathered in response to request for assistance to the appropriate authority of the requesting country or to authorize any other authority as prescribed to do so, and; (f) to carry out such other tasks as provided for in this Act or which may be necessary for effective assistance to be provided or received. (3) The central authority may, having regard to its functions and to exercise its powers efficiently, delegate its functions and powers to one or more subordinate officers not less than the rank of a joint secretary."
Earlier, responding to a question during the Question Hour in the National Assembly, Parliamentary Secretary for National Health Services Nousheen Hamid said that 44 HIV treatment centers are providing HIV medicines, free testing and diagnostic services to affected people. She said over 70,000 HIV tests have been performed across Pakistan in last ten months. She said total HIV cases reported in Pakistan were 165,000 till September last.
Answering another question, Nousheen Hamid said countrywide network of around 1,400 TB care facilities are also providing free TB diagnostic and treatment services.
Responding to a question, Minister for Housing and Works Tariq Bashir Cheema said that entire lot of houses shall not be constructed in urban areas as a significant number of housing units will be built in rural areas under Naya Pakistan Housing Program. He said each new colony developed in urban areas will also have necessary amenities.
Responding to another question, the minister for national health services, regulations and coordination said that the number of polio cases has risen sharply in Pakistan from 12 in 2018 to 117 in 2019 so far that include 83 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 19 from Sindh, 9 from Balochistan and 6 from Punjab. Besides this, a total of 12 cases have also been reported this year including 6 from KP, 4 from GB and one each from Punjab and Islamabad, he added.
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