The opposition-dominated Senate on Wednesday rejected yet another Anti-Terrorism Act (amendment) Bill, 2020, just a day after it was passed by the National Assembly. It was the third Financial Action Task Force-related legislation to have been blocked by the opposition in the upper house.

During today's session, a majority of members voted against the bill. While 31 members voted in the favour of the amendments, 34 voted against it, objecting to some of the provisions.

What is Anti-Terrorism Act Bill,2020?

According to the Anti-Terrorism Act Bill, the investigating officer, with the permission of the court, can conduct covert operations to detect terrorism funding, track communications and computer system by applying latest technologies for a period of 60 days. The investigative officer can also ask the court for an extension in the aforementioned period of 60 days and the duration of covert investigation can be prolonged for another 60 days.

The bill was introduced to curb terrorism funding and strengthen the law and enforcement agencies to detect any such elements:

“The main purpose of introducing this bill is to enable law enforcement agencies to eradicate these curses by adopting certain preventive techniques with the empowered assistance of the courts of law.”

Third FATF-reated bill turned down by the opposition:

This is a third FATF-related bill being turned down by the the opposition in the Senate. Last month, Anti-Money Laundering (Second Amendment) Bill and the Islamabad Capital Territory Waqf Properties Bill were also rejected by the Senate.

What is FATF:

The FATF is an inter-governmental body, established in 1989 by the G7 group of countries,that sets standards for implementing regulatory, legal and operational measures that will combat money laundering and terrorist financing activities. Pakistan was put on FATF's grey list in June,2018 for not taking enough measures to curb money laundering and terrorism financing.