Defining Terrorism: Its (Mis)Application and Implications in Pakistan

The Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 (ATA) mainly governs the anti-terror legal regime of Pakistan. This paper debates that the definitional part of this statute has certain ambiguities which makes it difficult to determine ambit and scope of this statute. Consequently, the specially mandated Anti-Terrorism Courts (ATCs) have to deal with the question of jurisdiction first and the original trial proceeds later which makes the basic purpose of the ATA i.e. to speedily decide the cases, futile. Even the higher judiciary sometimes issues the ATA-based decisions with weak jurisprudential reasons. This study postulates that only a lucid and detailed legislative amendment can end this overuse of ATA as well as the confusions of jurisdiction and expedite trial proceedings [Ed.].