PM Nawaz Sharif seeks support for new anti-terror ordinance

ISLAMABAD: With rights groups and some parties opposing the recently promulgated Protection of Pakistan Ordinance 2013, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has asked the chiefs of all political parties to support the anti-terror law.

The ordinance states that the state's writ will be established at all costs and describes all elements creating terror and fear as "state enemies".

In a letter sent to the heads of political parties, Sharif said there were threats to the life and property of the common man. He said the introduction of a comprehensive legal system is imperative to safeguard the people.

The ordinance will send a "strong message" to organised crime and anti-state elements regarding the will and determination of the state and people "to face and eliminate all challenges to sovereignty and integrity", Sharif said.

The letter said decades of dictatorial regimes and mis-governance have resulted in complete erosion of the state's writ and authority. Apart from remote areas' "safe havens" in urban centres and towns have become a cause of serious concern, it said.

Sharif said, "Coupled with the failure of law enforcement agencies responsible for internal security and prosecution of crime, due to a variety of reasons, we are currently facing a situation where life and property of the people is in grave danger."

On the other hand' the organised mafia is "roaming free due to legal vacuum created by constant tampering with different legislations over an extended period of time".

"Resultantly the socio-economic fabric of our society as well as the age old value system binding this nation is in danger of disintegration," he said.

It was in this context and in view of events in post-2014 Afghanistan that the government considered it imperative to put in place a legal mechanism for intervention to protect the rights and liberty of the people and the sovereignty and integrity of Pakistan, Sharif said.

The premier said a team of legal and security experts had ensured that the new law is in complete consonance with the Constitution.

Sharif also sent a copy of the ordinance to the leaders and asked them to support his government "in its passage through the parliament in due course".