Seventy-eight years after Pakistan’s independence, the Punjab government is moving to introduce a law that has been criticised as being reminiscent of colonial-era laws. The Punjab Control of Habitual Offenders and Anti-Social Behaviour Bill, 2026 has already sailed through to the Punjab Assembly Standing Committee on Law, it emerged on Sunday. The bill proposes a regime in which the executive can freeze a person’s bank account, seize their property, remove their online presence, confiscate their phone, and place them under electronic surveillance, all on the basis of an intelligence committee’s assessment of their conduct.