After a decade of terrorist attacks, Pakistan is implementing a new legal framework to deal with its growing militant threat — what some are calling a local version of the USA Patriot Act.
The government says the measure will improve an anti-terrorism effort plagued by inefficiency and abuses. At times, security forces have swept up thousands of suspected Islamist militants without charge, outraging human rights activists. When terrorism suspects do go before a judge, however, they are often freed, dismaying Western officials.
"This law is war, declared war, against those who challenge the state," said Khawaja Zaheer, the senior justice adviser to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. "This law is intended to do what should have been done in 2001 or 2002," in the aftermath of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.