The Pakistan government will soon issue an ordinance that will allow military courts to try civilians for offences like terrorism and give sweeping powers to security and intelligence agencies.
The ordinance, which will be issued to amend the Army Act, will allow military courts to take up cases involving persons like tribal militants, Attorney General Malik Qayyum said.
This will be the second attempt to bring civilians under the purview of the Army Act since 1977. The Lahore high court had earlier struck down such an amendment made in the Army Act by the government of late prime minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.
"Some new offences would be added to the Army Act to cover civilians," Qayyum told The News newspaper, adding that the ordinance would be issued in the next few days.
The proposed amendments to the Army Act would also redefine the role of security agencies by giving them "more powers of arbitrary detentions", he said.
The new offences that will be covered by the Army Act include terrorism, abduction, and use of arms. The amended act would "definitely apply to any such offences committed by tribal militants and other people," Qayyum said.
Pakistan has witnessed an upsurge in militant activities in the restive tribal areas bordering Afghanistan and the Swat valley in North West Frontier Province in recent months.
There have also been a series of deadly suicide attacks, including two blasts that targeted former premier Benazir Bhutto's homecoming rally in Karachi on October 19 that killed nearly 140 people and injured hundreds more.
The proposed amendments to the Army Act would further empower intelligence agencies to "make arbitrary detentions of civilians without framing any charges" and to keep civilians "in custody for an indefinite period," the report said.
A top official of the defence ministry said the proposed amendments to the Army Act would give "sweeping powers" to intelligence agencies under which they "would not be under any obligation to keep the suspected people in detention for a fixed time period."
Though a number of civilians are currently being tried by military courts for their alleged involvement in assassination attempts on President Pervez Musharraf, the new amendment to the Army Act will "broaden the scope" for conviction of civilians by army tribunals.
