NEW YORK: The Human Rights Watch has called the Protection of Pakistan Ordinance (PPO)threat to basic human rights and freedoms and violation of the country's international obligations, ARY News reported on Friday.
Brad Adams, Asia director of the New York based human rights group, has said that, " Pakitan's anti-terror laws shouldn't be used to undermine fundamental rights."
The proposed law violates fundamental rights to freedom of speech, privacy and peaceful assembly, and due process protections embodied in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which Pakistan ratified in 2010. In its current form, the law could be used to suppress peaceful political opposition and criticism of government policy, Human Rights Watch said.
Pakistan's Senate should refuse to approve the repressive law and return it to the National Assembly with needed revisions, Human Rights Watch said.
The piece of legislation which was earlier approved by President Mamnoon Hussain on October 20,2013, later passed by the National Assembly on April 7, this year.
The law requires approval from the Senate by April 20, otherwise it will expire.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government which enjoys overwhelming majority in the National Assembly, lacking required numbers needed for approval of the law in the Senate.
