Punjab speaker says he was unaware of anti-social behaviour bill reaching committee stage

LAHORE: Punjab Assembly Speaker Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan said on Sunday he was taken aback to learn that a controversial bill dealing with habitual offenders and anti-social behaviour had already been approved by the assembly’s standing committee on law.

The issue surfaced during a Punjab Assembly sitting convened to discuss the province’s supplementary budget, when opposition lawmaker Rana Aftab Ahmad Khan raised the proposed Punjab Control of Habitual Offenders and Anti-Social Behaviour Bill, 2026. The speaker appeared surprised and asked whether the bill had been laid before the house after being told that the standing committee had cleared it.

The proposed legislation would give the executive sweeping powers based on an intelligence committee’s assessment of an individual’s conduct. Under the bill, authorities could freeze bank accounts, confiscate property and mobile phones, erase a person’s online presence, and place them under electronic surveillance.

Rana Aftab Ahmad Khan criticised the measure on the assembly floor, saying it ran counter to human rights and warning that its effects would extend to future generations. He also said the ruling PML-N could itself face the consequences of such a law if it were enacted.