Supreme Court constitutes bench to define 'what is terrorism?'

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa on Wednesday formed a larger bench of the Supreme Court to define the ‘Terrorism’, ARY News reported.

The seven-member larger bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Khosa, will determine and decide the exact definition of terrorism.

Since 1997, it is not determined that which case comes in the ambit of terrorism, the chief justice said adding that the bench has been constituted to define the terrorism.

Chief Justice Khosa also said that the court will issue its decision on the legality of perjury today.

It will be decided today that the witness account of a false witness will be rejected in entirety, the top judge said.

Definition of Terrorism

According to legal experts there is no precise or widely accepted definition of the word, ‘terrorism’. It often refers to and is applied to a variety of acts of violence that are not strictly within the ambit of terrorism.

To define what is terrorism leads to an intellectual struggle. The rival parties label the activities of their opponents with it.

The features of an act of terrorism include the use or threat of violence and political motivation for some specific purpose.

According to the experts of international law the issue of terrorism attracted increased attention and concern in early 70’s at the international level. The United Nations had struggled to provide a definition of terrorism. There are difficulties of interpretation, ‘one man’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter’. In the post 9/11 period, the issue of dealing with international terrorism has become the primary objective of the international community.