Protection of Pakistan Act 2014: contextual and critical analysis.

Abstract

Since the creation of Pakistan, the country has faced a lot of resistance from terrorists. There have been a lot of terrorist actions from within the country but the main threats were with its borders with neighbours Afghanistan and India. The country has come up with a number of laws to help its fight against terrorism. The main intent of such laws was to be able to protect the State of Pakistan and by this its people. The fight against terrorism heightened immediately after the 9/11 attack of 2001 in the United States. Pakistan saw itself becoming an ally of the US over night. It had to change most of its stance towards Afgahnistan. The fight against Afgahnistan instead led to an increase in terrorism in Pakistan as the main Talibans who wer under fire from the Americans fled across the border into Pakistan setting up base there. As a means of fighting these new wave of terrorists, more laws were promulgated but most of these have come under fire from the public because of their conflict with human rights. This is the case of the Pakistan Protection Act 2014 which is the main subject of this study. The PPA has been judged by many as infringing of the basic human rights of the people it is trying to protect. Analysis of the PPA has been given and it has been seen that there are areas of the Act which if left as it is will result to a lot of human rights abuse. Provisions like the power given to the armed and civil armed forces to shoot on sight and to search without warrant have been shown to be contradictory to some human rights principles. Some recommendations have therefore been made on how the act can be made to be more human rights friendly. For example the power given to the armed forces should be reduced and public trials should be allowed.