President Arif Alvi has snubbed Pakistan's all-powerful army by refusing to sign two pivotal bills, the Pakistan Army (Amendment) Bill 2023 and the Official Secrets (Amendment) Bill 2023.
On Saturday, it was reported in media that President Arif Alvi has signed the Official Secrets (Amendment) Bill, 2023, and the Pakistan Army Act (Amendment) Bill, 2023.
However, in a dramatic turn of events, Pakistan's President Arif Alvi denied signing the two bills. In a statement posted on his X (formerly Twitter) account, President Alvi said to have instructed his staff to return the bills unsigned within the stipulated time to render them ineffective.
"As God is my witness, I did not sign Official Secrets Amendment Bill, 2023 and Pakistan Army Amendment Bill, 2023 as I disagreed with these laws. I asked my staff to return the bills unsigned within the stipulated time to make them ineffective. I confirmed from them many times whether they have been returned & was assured that they were. However, I have found out today that my staff undermined my will and command. As Allah knows all, He will forgive Insha'Allah. But I ask forgiveness from those who will be affected."
It may be pointed out that amendments to Official Secrets Act and Pakistan Army Act were rushed in the parliament to try the people who are accused of participating in the May 9, 2023, attacks on military installations. Since there is no proof against the accused to try them in normal civil courts, therefore the government announced on May 10 that the accused will be tried under Pakistan Army Act and Official Secrets Act.
However, it was not apparently possible to convict the accused of May 9 attacks through present Official Secrets Act and Pakistan Army Act, therefore, some amendments were necessary to convict them.
Rioters and their backers who attacked Pakistan's state assets and military installations during protests that erupted after the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan will be tried under army laws, the country's civilian and military leaders have said.
On August 10, the outgoing Prime Minister Shebaz Sharif announced: the cabinet endorsed to bring the miscreants, the planners who incited for violence and their facilitators to dock by trying them under constitutional provisions of concerned laws, including Pakistan Army Act and Official Secrets Act.
The decision amounted to an endorsement of the military, which said on August 9 that the rioters and their handlers had been identified and would be tried under army laws.
Trying civilians in military courts is contrary to international law, according to Amnesty International's Dinushika Dissanayake, who called the military's intention of trying the rioters under army laws "alarming".
"It is alarming to note that the Pakistani Army has stated its intention to try civilians under military laws, possibly in military courts," Reuters quoted Dissanayake, Amnesty's deputy regional director for South Asia as saying. "This is purely an intimidation tactic, designed to crack down on dissent by exercising fear of an institution that has never been held to account for its overreach."
Tellingly Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has accused intelligence agencies of being responsible for the shootings and arson during the violence.
"We have ample amount of evidence to present to any inquiry that the arson and, in some places, shootings were done by [intelligence] agencies men who wanted to cause mayhem and blame it on PTI so the current crackdown would be justified," the PTI said in a statement.
"PTI believes that identification of elements involved in this unusual incident of violence and chaos through a credible investigation is inevitable," the statement said.
Imran Khan arrested
On August 5, after a controversial trial by Humayun Dilawar, a Judge in Islamabad, Imran Khan was sentenced to three years in jail and disqualified from politics for "corrupt practices" involving the sale of state gifts. Senior attorney Latif Khosa said Judge Dilawar announced the verdict in haste without hearing the case on merit.
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