ISLAMABAD, 20 October 2004 — In an attempt to put extra pressure on terrorists, Pakistan has toughened its anti-terrorism law and increased the maximum jail term for supporters of militants from 14 years to life, officials said yesterday.

The new measure is among amendments to the 1997 Anti-Terrorism Act which were passed by the lower house of Parliament late Monday.

An official statement said the act was being tightened because of “increased terrorist activities, particularly increased attacks on places of worship in the country”.

“Though the 1997 act already provides for the maximum penalty of death for perpetrators, it was felt jail sentences needed to be enhanced to strike at the support network of terrorists,” said Tasneem Gardezi, a member of the parliamentary comittee on law.

“The new set of punishments is designed to deter those who are providing financial, logistical and infrastructure support to the terrorists,” Gardezi told AFP.

He said the amendments would remove loopholes in the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Life imprisonment in Pakistan means 25 years in jail.

The amendments also authorize officials to seize the passport of anyone charged under the law.

Two mosque suicide bombings and a car bombing at a religious gathering in the past month have claimed more than 70 lives in the central province of Punjab.

Security officials have blamed the attacks on extremists from the majority Sunni and minority Shiite sects. The sectarian violence has left more than 4,000 people dead over the past decade.

Police are guarding mosques in towns and cities across the country during the holy fasting month of Ramadan which started on Sunday.

The government has banned several extremist outfits since August 2001 and is also battling to uproot the Al-Qaeda network, which is believed to have forged links with local extremist groups.

Meanwhile, US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Christina Rocca met yesterday with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to discuss continued cooperation in the ongoing war against terrorism, officials said.

“Rocca’s meeting with Musharraf covered a wide range of subjects including Pakistan-US relations as well as regional and international issues of common interest,” Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan said in a statement issued after the talks.

Government officials said Musharraf and Rocca also discussed the events in neighboring Afghanistan — including the recent presidential election and Taleban-related violence — as well as bilateral ties.

Rocca also met Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and reiterated her country’s commitment to a broad-based and long-term partnership with Pakistan, as demonstrated in the multiyear package for Islamabad.

US President George W. Bush had last year pledged an economic and military aid package for Pakistan in “recognition of its role in the ongoing war against terrorism”.

An official statement quoted Prime Minister Aziz as appreciating US support to Pakistan’s socio-economic development plans as well as the country’s security needs.

Meanwhile, in a meeting with Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri, Rocca praised “Pakistan’s key role in promoting peace and stability in Afghanistan as well as the entire region.”

US-Pakistani relations improved markedly after Islamabad became actively involved in the anti-terror war unleashed in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States.

Political observers also interpreted Rocca’s visit as an attempt to apply pressure on Pakistan to help catch high-ranking terrorists like Al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden and his deputy Dr. Aiman Al-Zawahiri, ahead of the US presidential election next month.

Also on the list of most wanted terrorists are Afghan “rebels” Mulla Omar, the evasive one-eyed Taleban supreme leader, and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, head of the radical Hezbe Islami.

Both Omar and Hekmatyar have declared jihad, or holy war, against the US-led coalition in Afghanistan, but have so far escaped a massive manhunt by US, Pakistani and Afghan forces.

The trilateral search has focused on the rugged mountainous terrain in the South Waziristan region in Pakistan which separates the country from Afghanistan.

So far, Pakistan has arrested and handed over close to 600 Al-Qaeda “terrorists” to US authorities since the fall of the Taleban regime in November 2001.