Pakistan - Law guide

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This is an overview of an internet research on legislation in Pakistan (as of January 2024). This overview aims to serve as a starting point to facilitate the research into legal texts. However, it should not replace independent verification of the different legal texts as to their currency, validity and accuracy. Please also bear in mind that official translations of legal texts only exist in rare cases.

Researching laws

The website of the National Assembly of Pakistan provides the possibility to search for laws or amendments passed by Parliament (“Acts of Parliament”) by using the search function or by using the menu item “Legislative Business”. The laws passed by Parliament are published in the Official Gazette of Pakistan and are available at the website of Pakistan’s National Assembly. Under the following link, the most recent laws and amendments can be found:

The Pakistan Code is a website operated by the Pakistan Ministry of Justice that publishes official versions of the Pakistani legislation in Urdu and English. The database offers a search function as well as overviews of laws in alphabetical or chronological order, or according to categories. If the website is not accessible, it is possible to access some of the legal texts via Internet Archive (https://archive.org/web/). In such cases, it is advisable to download the PDF versions of the documents in order to be able to consult all parts of the legislative texts:

  • The Pakistan Code
    https://www.pakistancode.gov.pk/ (if not available, archived version     here)

The Refworld database, operated by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), provides the option to search for English translations of some legislative texts:

Some Pakistani laws can be found on Natlex, a database of the International Labour Organization (ILO):

To access the collection of national laws for Pakistan on ecoi.net, please follow this link.

Until 2018, special legal regulations applied to the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), particularly laid down in the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) and in Articles 246 and 247 of the Pakistani constitution. The FATA special regulations were introduced under British colonial rule and adopted after Pakistan's independence in 1947 (USIP, March 2018, p. 4). In 2018, the special status of FATA was abolished, and the areas were merged with the province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) (Dawn, 13 October 2018).

Constitution

An official English version of Pakistan’s 1973 Constitution, with amendments up to May 2018, is available at The Pakistan Code, a website operated by Pakistan’s Ministry of Justice:

Citizenship Law

The citizenship law of 1951 including the latest amendment of the year 2000 is available on the website The Pakistan Code operated by the Pakistan Ministry of Justice:

Information on the acquisition of the Pakistani citizenship for Afghan refugees born in Pakistan can be found in the following query responses:

Criminal Code

An official English version of Pakistan’s Criminal Code of 1860 with amendments, including the July 2023 amendment, is available at The Pakistan Code, a website operated by Pakistan’s Ministry of Justice:

Criminal Procedure Code

The Pakistan Code, a website operated by the Pakistan Ministry of Justice, provides the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1898 and its amendments up to February 2017:

Two further amendments to Pakistan’s Criminal Procedure Code were made by the 2022 Criminal Laws (Amendment) Act and the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act, which were published in the Gazette of Pakistan in December 2022 and are available at the website of Pakistan’s National Assembly:

Army Act

The Pakistan Code, a website operated by the Pakistan Ministry of Justice, provides the Army Act of 1952 and its amendments up to August 2023:

Military personnel are tried for offences under the Army Act before a military court. In certain cases, the Act also applies to civilians. According to the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) it was announced on 16 May 2023, after a meeting of the National Security Committee chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, “that participants in the nationwide mass protests who attacked civilian government and military installations would be tried under the Army Act.” (BAMF, 30 June 2023, p. 10)

References

(Sources accessed on 18 January 2024)

  • USIP – US Institute of Peace: Mainstreaming Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas – Reform Initiatives and Roadblocks, Special Report 421, March 2018

Cite as:

ACCORD - Austrian Centre for Country of Origin and Asylum Research and Documentation: ecoi.net Pakistan Law Guide, January 2024
https://www.ecoi.net/en/countries/pakistan/law-guide/

  • Austrian Red Cross
  • Austrian Centre for Country of Origin and Asylum Research and Documentation (ACCORD)

ecoi.net is run by the Austrian Red Cross (department ACCORD) in cooperation with Informationsverbund Asyl & Migration. ecoi.net is funded by the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund, the Austrian Ministry of the Interior and Caritas Austria. ecoi.net is supported by ECRE & UNHCR.