Pakistan President Arif Alvi denies signing amendment bills of Official Secrets, Army Act

In a dramatic turn of events, Pakistan's President Arif Alvi denied on Sunday signing Official Secrets (Amendment) Bill, 2023, and the Pakistan Army (Amendment) Bill, 2023, claiming that he was shocked to know that his staff 'undermined' his orders and failed to return the unsigned bills within the stipulated time.

In the statement posted on his X account, President Alvi claimed to have instructed his staff to return the bills unsigned within the stipulated time to render them ineffective.

"As God is my witness, I did not sign Official Secrets Amendment Bill, 2023 and Pakistan Army Amendment Bill, 2023 as I disagreed with these laws," said Alvi, who belonged to jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party before assuming the post.

"I asked my staff to return the bills unsigned within the stipulated time to make them ineffective. I confirmed from them many times whether they have been returned & was assured that they were. However, I have found out today that my staff undermined my will and command. As Allah knows all, He will forgive IA (InshaAllah). But I ask forgiveness...,” he added.

His statement comes a day after the local media reported that the president has signed the two bills.

The report of the bill completing the process to become law emerged as former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, also a close aide of Khan, was arrested under the Official Secrets Act in connection with the leakage of a confidential diplomatic cable last year.

There was no statement from the President's House.

Addressing a press conference, Interim Law Minister Ahmad Irfan Aslam said that the bills have become laws after President Alvi failed to exercise either of the two options given in Article 75 of the constitution.

"He should have signed the bills into law or sent them back to the parliament with his observations and signatures within ten days. After he abstained from exercising the powers, the bills have become laws after the lapse of the ten-day deadline,” he said.

He said that the amended Army Act was sent to the office of the president on August 2 while the Secret Act was sent to his office on August 8. He said the president could have recorded his observation within ten days as he did on several previous occasions.

"It was for the time that the president took no action on the two bills and even refrained from recording his objections and allowed the ten days to pass,” he said.

To a question, the law minister said that he has not witnessed such a situation in the past history of the country when the president raised an objection to a law by saying that he had not signed it or it became law after he rejected it.

He further said that both bills were officially notified and have become laws.

Information Minister Murtaza Solangi said at the same presser that the interim government has no plan to confiscate the record from the office of the president. "No action will be taken against the president; we have full respect for the president and his office,” he said.

Earlier, the Law Ministry in a statement expressed "concern” over the president’s post, saying that he should “take responsibility for his own actions”.

"As per Article 75 of the Constitution, when a bill is sent for assent, the president has two options: either give assent or refer the matter to the parliament with specific observations”, said the ministry.

It said that Article 75 does not provide for any third option and none of the two options were fulfilled and the President “purposely delayed the assent”.

“Returning the bills without any observations or assent is not provided for in the Constitution. Such a course of action is against the letter and spirit of the Constitution,” it said, adding that the president could have returned the bills with his observations like he did in the recent and distant past.

“He could have also issued a press release to that effect. It is a matter of concern that the president has chosen to discredit his own officials. The president should take responsibility for his own actions,” it said.

The two Bills were among several laws passed by the outgoing National Assembly and several of them were already returned by the president.

Section 6-A of the secrets act creates a new offence of unauthorised disclosure of the identities of members of intelligence agencies, informants or sources. The offence would be punishable by up to three years in jail and a fine of up to Rs 10 million.

The amended Army Act among other changes provides for the punishment of up to five-year rigorous imprisonment to any person guilty of disclosing any information, acquired in an official capacity that is or may be prejudicial to the security and interest of Pakistan or the armed forces.

The controversy comes as the government launched a case last week against Khan for violating the secret act by using the cipher sent by its embassy in the US for political purposes.

Qureshi, a two-time foreign minister, was arrested in the same case on Saturday night.

Former premier Khan has for long mentioned the missing cable as evidence of a “foreign conspiracy” to remove him as the prime minister in April last year.

Khan, 70, is currently serving a three-year jail term after he was sentenced by a court in a corruption case earlier this month.

The former cricketer-turned-politician-led government was ousted through a no-confidence vote in April 2022.