A parliamentary body on Thursday deferred a crucial bill related to exchange of information and criminals with different countries till its next meeting to be held today (Friday) after some members objected to some of its clauses and proposed a few amendments.
The passage of the bill is important to meet one of the requirements of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
The Senate Standing Committee on Interior which met here with Senator Rehman Malik in the chair decided to hold further deliberation on "Mutual Legal Assistance (Criminal matters) Bill, 2020" after PML-N Senator Muhammad Javed Abbasi and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazl) Senator Talha Mahmood proposed some amendments to the bill.
Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Azam Khan Swati while briefing the committee said the act was about the state and not the government. He said that keeping in view time constraint, the bill should be passed in order to meet the deadline. "The committee needs to pass the bill as the next meeting of FATF is scheduled be held on January 21," he said.
Secretary Interior Yousaf Naeem Khokhar said the passage of that bill would further strengthen Pakistan's case as the government had so far taken many steps for fulfilling many FATF requirements.
He said that increase in transnational organized crime had made it necessary for international community and Pakistan to improve effectiveness of legal instruments. "Lack of uniformity in law and weak coordination mechanism between countries affects combating of crime across borders," he said.
Senator Abbasi said that in the bill the word "central authority" gave more power to a single person therefore it should be replaced with the federal government. He said that section 23 of the bill - "Indemnity - no suit prosecution or other legal proceedings shall lie against the central authority or any other officer a person exercising any power or performing any functions under this act or rules made there under for anything done or intended to be done in good faith" - should be deleted.
He said the law should only be applied on the people involved in criminal activities, terrorism and money laundering and it should not be applied over politically motivated cases.
Talha Mahmood said the committee needed time to properly review the bill for proposing amendment to it so that it could be further strengthened. "If the government wants to get bill passed in such a haste, there was no need to refer it to the committee," he said.
Malik said the bill consisted of many things which already existed in different Pakistani laws. He also said some countries were using FATF to pressurize Pakistan; therefore, the government needed to take aggressive stance in that regard.
He said Pakistan was suffering because of FATF as it risked losing billions of dollars annually following its placement on FATF's grey list. He said, "We must prefer our national interest and pass the Bill if it brings relief to the country in FATF." He said FATF must consider Pakistan's countless sacrifices in war on terror and must not play in the hands of India.
However, he said, "Pakistan would be placed on black list or its placement over gray list would be extended if we do not pass this bill."
The committee decided to hold further discussion over the bill in the next meeting to be held on Friday (today).
While expressing his concerns on the bomb blast in Quetta, Malik said that new wave of terrorism was of high concern as terrorists mostly started their activities from Balochistan which spread across the country. He said that government and law enforcement agencies must remain high alert and vigilant as inimical forces had always wanted to destabilize the peace of the country, particularly Balochistan.
He said through terrorist activities, enemies would never succeed in their nefarious aims against Pakistan. He said the chief secretary Balochistan should brief the committee on the law and order in the province in the next meeting.
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