ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has constituted a cabinetcommittee to review the bill that is aimed to amend the Pakistan Penal Code(PPC) and the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) after it created a sharpdivision in the federal cabinet, *The News* reported Wednesday.
The controversial bill — Criminal Laws Amendment Bill, 2023link—provides for curbs on criticism of certain state institutions including thejudiciary and the army through arrest without warrant and imprisonment offive years along with fines of up to Rs1 million.
PM Shehbaz, who was chairing the cabinet meeting, formed a committee ofministers to review the legislation to make it acceptable.
Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, EconomicAffairs Minister Sardar Ayaz Sadiq and two others from the allied partieshave been included in the committee.
Federal ministers belonging to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) KhawajaSaad Rafique, Mian Javed Latif, Ahsan Iqbal and Dr Musadik Malik andPakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) Sherry Rehman, Syed Naveed Qamar and HinaRabbani Khar were among the cabinet members who opposed the bill in itspresent shape.
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Well-placed cabinet sources told *The News* that Rafique opposed the billcontending that such legislation had proved counterproductive in the past.The bill provides up to five-year imprisonment to whoever ridiculesthe PakistanArmy and judiciarylinkthroughany medium.
The cabinet summary states that recently the country has witnessed a spateof scandalous, derogatory and vicious attacks on certain institutions ofthe state, including the judiciary and armed forces. It is well-known thata deliberate cyber campaign has been launched by certain wings forself-serving motives with the objective of inciting and nurturing hatredagainst important state institutions and their officials. Such attacks arefocused on undermining the integrity, stability and independence of thecountry’s state institutionslink.