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" POWERS UNDER ORDER VII, RULE 11, C THE ANTI-TERRORISM LAW OF PAKISTAN NEED FOR REFORM   By   Zulfiqar Hameed   BACKGROUND:   The primary counter terrorism law of Pakistan, the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997, is a federal statute that was enacted in August 1997 (the Act hereinafter) and was adopted by the provinces. It was meant at the time to deal with the menace of ethnic and sectarian terrorism and was enacted in the backdrop of the heightened attacks and terrorist acts in the decade of the 90s. It was felt that there was a need for specialized legislation on the subject in order to expedite the process of adjudication of cases of terrorism. The Act established special Courts with additional powers and a much lighter workload with summary procedure to ensure quick disposal of terrorism cases. It provided some additional powers to the law enforcement agencies and gave a wide (albeit nebulous) definition of terrorism and terrorist acts. It enhanced the punishments for such acts and tried to cover the activities leading to the phenomenon of terrorism.   It appears however, with the benefit of hind sight, that the Act has not given the desired results and has not proved to be an effective legislative response to the threat of terrorism. The specter of terrorism has been haunting Pakistan for the last five years, again, with a renewed force and a ferocious intensity not seen before. The phenomenon of terrorism has metamorphosed in Pakistan and has left the law struggling to cope with the new challenges thrown up by these developments. An analysis of the incidents of terrorism in Pakistan shows an exponential increase in the number of incidents and casualties during the last three years for the period between 1974 and 2007 (33 years) the number of…