On 30 July, the Pakistan Senate passed the Anti-Terrorism Act (Amendment) Bill, 2020 and the United Nations (Security Council) (Amendment) Bill, 2020 to satisfy the requirements of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to get the country off its grey list. The Lower House already gave its nod to the bills on Wednesday where the Opposition created a huge ruckus to stage its protest specifically against the Anti-Terrorism Act (Amendment) Bill, 2020. The Opposition contended that the Anti-Terrorism Act (Amendment) Bill, 2020 expands the applicability of Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 (ATA) to the cases of “economic terrorism” and gives broad powers to law enforcement personnel to keep the accused under detention for three months (90 days) during the inquiry period. Given Pakistan’s history of misusing ATA to suppress any kind of dissent and rights-based movement, the Opposition members feared that the current amendment of the ATA will further aid the hybrid regime in Pakistan to subdue dissent and frighten the Opposition into submission. Read More…