ABSTRACT
In 1997, when Nawaz Sharif returned to power for a second time, Pakistan was in the grip of violence. Soon after his election, one of the first steps Sharif took was the passage of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) 1997. Just as the international War on Terror began in 2001, the scope of the ATA in Pakistan took a new turn. In April 1999, through an ordinance, the Sharif Government introduced the offence of "civil commotion" to the list of terrorist acts. In March 2013 the definition of terrorism in the ATA further expanded to cover international terrorism, and to incorporate the financial angle to it—money collection, financing, and laundering. After the passage of the ATA, it became a challenge for the courts to settle the test or criteria for determining what actions constitute terrorism. In 2001, the Musharraf government introduced an amendment whereby "organisations"—terrorist organisations—became subject to the act.
