Proposed by: Ms. Aisha Syed, Mr. Sahibzada Muhammad Yaqub, Mr. Sahibzada Tariq Ullah, Mr. Sher Akber Khan (Members, National Assembly)
Status: Pending
Summary: The Federal Witness Protection Act has been proposed to provide protection for witnesses and enable them to give evidence before the court of law. Further amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 are also suggested in this Act.
With the growing number of threats in the nation, it is vital to encourage witnesses to come forward, without fearing for their own and their families’ safety. When witnesses do not attend court sessions to give evidence against the accused, it increases the ratio of crimes in the country. According to the movers of this Act, it is essential that a Witness Protection Programme be established in order to protect witnesses from any sort of harm by the offenders. Additionally, this amendment bill gives special power to the courts to track the acts of authorities about protecting witnesses.
