KP govt enacts special laws to counter terrorism in short time

PESHAWAR: To counter terrorism and improve security of the people and public property, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has enacted three special laws within a short time.
Under the new laws, people are being arrested during search and strike operations.Some political leaders have criticised the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led provincial government for introducing a law to absolve itself of the responsibility to protect the people.
The passage of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Restriction of Rented Buildings Act 2014, KP Restriction of Hotel Businesses Act 2014 and KP Security of Sensitive and Vulnerable Establishments and Places Act 2014 took a long time.
The opposition in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly gave a tough time to the government to pass the KP Security of Sensitive and Vulnerable Establishments and Places Act 2014.Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, being the frontline province in the war against terror, bore the major brunt of the decade long violence. “While the civil and armed security personnel deployed in the province have fought the militants valiantly, the fact remains that in the absence of specific legislations a sustainable and long-term eradication of terrorism has remained an elusive dream. Unfortunately, despite the decade long wave of terror, no such legislation was carried out until recently,” said a senior police official.
The official added that investigations into a number of terrorism cases in the province revealed that the sabotage activities were undertaken by militants who had no permanent bases in the province and used rental properties and hotels as their temporary bases.
There was a dire and urgent need to introduce systematic checks and balances to regulate the use of rental properties and hotel accommodations by the terrorists. “It was seen that public and profit earning private organisation were taking no steps to secure their establishments thereby adding to their vulnerability. It was in this backdrop that the KP Police proposed three special counter-terrorism draft laws to the provincial government in 2014,” the official argued.
The KP Restriction of Rented Buildings Act 2014 requires the landlords renting their properties to do so only after proper background verification and provision of sureties by the tenant.
The law further requires the landlord and tenants to get registered with the concerned police stations after submitting their particulars. Failure to do so is a cognisable offence and involvement of tenant in any terrorism activities in such a case entails vicarious liability for the landlord as well.
A number of people are being arrested from all parts of the province under the law every day.The KP Restriction of Hotel Businesses Act 2014 requires all hotels, inns, motels and rest houses to get registered with the concerned police station and to ensure provision of guest lists to the local police station on a daily basis.
The law makes it mandatory for the hotel management to record complete particulars of each guest and verify their identities and to inspect the baggage of each guest.The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Security of Sensitive and Vulnerable Establishments and Places Act 2014 requires the owners/management of public and profit making private establishments to make appropriate security arrangements for the safety of such establishments and places.
Based on the target hardening theory, the law aims to make it mandatory for all such public and private places to perform their social responsibility.This law makes it mandatory for the police force to regularly check these establishments for ensuring the implementation of its objectives.
Apart from ensuring the implementation of the above laws, KP Police have recently started computerisation and geo-tagging of rental properties and tenants residing there. The collection and computerisation of such record comes in the purview of Excise and Taxation Department. However, owing to the gravity of situation, KP Police have started the process and already computerised the record of more than 100,000 rental households across the province.
The data obtained in consequence of KP Restriction of Rented Buildings Act 2014 and Restriction of Hotel Businesses Act 2014 has been computerised and integrated with crime record of the province.
Integration of crime record of the province with data of tenants and hotel guests has enabled KP Police to keep a close watch on the tenants/guests and their criminal histories.The data also enables KP Police to know the whereabouts of those wanted by it for their involvement in criminal activities.
“Following the passage of special counter-terrorism laws by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, other provinces including Punjab and Sindh have reportedly started working towards undertaking legislation for denying terrorist and criminal elements the space and opportunity to realise their nefarious designs,” said a police official.