ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan filed a petition to the Supreme Court (SC) challenging the amendments made in the Army Act and Official Secrets Act.
The Official Secrets (Amendment) Bill, 2023, and the Pakistan Army (Amendment) Bill, 2023, reportedly received President Arif Alvi’s nod in August after the Senate and National Assembly passed them in July.
However, a day after reports of the president’s approval — who is a PTI member — Alvi denied signing the bills, alleging that his staff had “undermined” his orders.
Today, in a petition filed under Article 184/3 of the Constitution of Pakistan, the PTI chief challenged the amendments to the two laws, arguing that they contradict basic fundamental rights.
The plea, filed by Advocate Shoaib Shaheen on the former premier’s behalf, states that empowering “secret agencies to raid and detain any citizen or enter and search any person in any place without obtaining a search warrant from any court of law” is “unethical” and violates the Constitution.
Furthermore, it asserts that President Alvi clarified that he did not approve any of these laws, rendering their passage unconstitutional.
The petition urges the court to remove the said amendments due to the lack of proper due process.
The President’s Signature Mystery
Last month, a day after President Alvi reportedly assented to the two bills, he claimed that he did not give assent for both these laws to pass.
“As God is my witness, I did not sign the Official Secrets Amendment Bill 2023 & the Pakistan Army Amendment Bill 2023 as I disagreed with these laws,” President Alvi stated on X.
“I instructed my staff to return the bills unsigned within the stipulated time to render them ineffective. I verified multiple times with them whether they had returned the bills. They assured that they had returned.”
“However, today I have discovered that my staff undermined my will and command. As Allah knows all, He will forgive IA. But I ask forgiveness from those who will be affected,” he added.
