The Pakistani Regime is Undermining the Constitution and the Will & Command of the Head of the State

Pakistan’s President, Dr. Arif Alvi, revealed on August 20^th that amendments to the colonial-era Official Secrets Act and Army Act were passed this weekend without his consent.

Earlier this month (August 2023), the PDM regime introduced bills to amend the Official Secrets Act and the Army Act, granting extensive powers to Military Intelligence and the Intelligence Bureau to carry out raids and arrests of individuals suspected of violating the Official Secrets Act, even using force if deemed necessary. The bill was seen as a move to undermine civil liberties and legitimize the State’s encroachment on human rights.

Reports emerged on Saturday (August 19) indicating that the bills had been signed by the President and had officially become law. Shortly after, former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, who has been facing nearly 200 bogus cases in an effort by the Pakistani state to suppress his struggle for Pakistan’s democracy, and Shah Mahmood Qureshi, his party’s deputy chairman, were booked under the newly enacted law, and Shah Mahmood Qureshi was also arrested.

However, in a tweet on Sunday, President Alvi revealed that he did not sign the bills as he disagreed with the draconian laws, and had directed his staff to return the bills unsigned within the stipulated time to make them ineffective. Shockingly, it turned out that the bills President Alvi had refused to sign had become laws through subterfuge, as they were ‘deemed to have been assented by the President.’ 

This is in violation of both the Head of State’s directives and the Constitution. It blows away the facade of democracy and suggests that the true power resides with the country’s military leaders, as many experts have suggested.

Later, the President’s Office’s Twitter account also tweeted that they have terminated the person responsible for this “treason.”

Legal experts including Salman Akram Raja, Abuzar Salman Niazi, Barrister Ali Zafar, and others have elaborated that Article 75 of the Pakistani Constitution allows the president to return a bill to the parliament for reconsideration, and unless the President has signed the bills, his assent cannot be deemed at this stage. Therefore, the two bills do not hold the status of laws.

The President’s tweet underscores the erosion of the Constitution and the mockery of the rule of law that has persisted in the country for sixteen months. Those in power have consistently undermined the rule of law and the Constitution, while blatantly violating citizens’ fundamental rights.