: 
A Legal Research Guide to
by Omar Sial and
Sahar Iqbal
Omar Sial is a
partner in the law firm of Hasan & Sial, Advocates
and Corporate Counselors. Sahar Iqbal is a student of law at the Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology.
Published November
2005
Table of Contents
Constitutional Status of Islamic Law
Administration of Law and Justice
Located in
The country has a total area of 796,095 sq km and is
nearly four times the size of the
Since its creation in 1947
The Constitution of Pakistan 1973 was enacted by the
National Assembly on
The whole of
The Constitution was again held in abeyance by the
Provisional Constitution Order No. 1 of 1999, issued by the Chief Executive on
The Constitution (Seventeenth Amendment) Act, 2003 has now
validated and affirmed all the amendments made in the Constitution by the Legal
Framework Order, 2002.
A comprehensive article on the history of the Constitution
can be found here.
Article 1
of the 1973 Constitution declares that
A comprehensive article on the Islamic
influence on the provisions of the Constitution can be found here.
Federal
Parliamentary System:
The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan provides for a Federal
Parliamentary System of government, with the President as the Head of State and
the popularly elected Prime Minister as Head of government. The Federal
Legislature is a bicameral Majlis-e-Shoora
(Parliament), composed of the National Assembly and the Senate.
Provinces:
National Assembly: Members of the National Assembly
are elected by universal adult suffrage (over eighteen years of age in
Senate: The Senate is a permanent
legislative body with equal representation from each of the four Provinces,
elected by the members of their respective Provincial Assemblies. There are
representatives from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and from
Prime Minister and
Cabinet: The
majority of members in the National Assembly nominate a member as Prime
Minister from amongst themselves. That individual is then appointed as Prime Minister
by the President from among the members of the National Assembly. The Prime Minister
is assisted by the Federal Cabinet, a council of ministers whose members are
appointed by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister.
President of
The Constitution sets out the procedure to be followed for
promulgating a statute. Broadly, this requires a Bill to be passed by both
Houses of Parliament - the National Assembly and the Senate. Upon a Bill's
passage through both Houses, it is presented to the President of Pakistan for
assent and becomes an Act of Parliament upon receiving such assent. In the
absence of the National Assembly, statutes are promulgated by the President
pursuant to Article 89(1) of the Constitution. Under this Article, the
President may, if satisfied that circumstances exist which render it necessary
to take immediate action, make and promulgate an Ordinance. Such Ordinances
have the same force and effect as an Act of Parliament. A similar power is
bestowed upon Provincial Governors by Article 128(1) of the Constitution in
respect of matters falling within provincial legislative authority.
The Law and Justice Division is an advisory and
consultative body to the Federal Government. There is a Law Department
operating under the supervision and control of the Law and Justice Division in
each province.
The Law and Justice Division is generally called upon,
from time to time, to tender advice on various important and controversial
constitutional and legal issues.
Legislative Drafting:
Drafting of
Ordinances and Bills is a major function and responsibility of the Law and
Justice Division which is looked after by the Drafting Wing.
Litigation: The other major function and
responsibility of the Division is to look after the litigation on behalf of the
Government of Pakistan.
Administration of
the Federal Courts/ Tribunals: The Law and Justice Division is also involved in the
appointment of Law Officers including Attorney General, Deputy Attorney General
and Standing Counsel. It also approves the appointment of legal advisers for
which purpose there is a committee comprising the Attorney General, Law and
Justice Minister and the Law and Justice Secretary.
Judicial Academy: The Federal Judicial Academy was
set up by the Law and Justice Ministry in September, 1988 for the adequate
training of Judges, Government law officers, police officers and doctors
dealing with medical legal cases.
There is a Supreme Court in
Supreme Court of
Structure: The Supreme Court is at the apex
of the judicial systems of
Jurisdiction: The Supreme Court has original,
appellate and advisory jurisdiction.
Original Jurisdiction: The Supreme Court, to the exclusion
of every other Court in
Appellate Jurisdiction: The Supreme Court has jurisdiction
to hear and determine appeals from judgments, decrees, final orders or
sentences passed by a High Court, the
Advisory Jurisdiction: It, at any time, the President
considers that it is desirable to obtain the opinion of the Supreme Court on
any question of law which he considers of public importance, he may refer the
question to the Supreme Court for consideration. The Supreme Court considers
the question so referred and reports its opinion on the question to the
President.
Seat of the Supreme Court: The permanent seat of the
Supreme Court is at
Transfer of Cases: The Supreme Court may, if it considers
expedient to do so in the interest of justice, transfer any case, appeal or
other proceedings pending before any High Court to any other High Court.
General: The practice and procedure of the Court is
regulated by the rules made by the Court. All executive and judicial
authorities throughout
High Courts of
There is a High Court in each of the four provinces of
Jurisdiction: A High Court has original and
appellate jurisdiction.
Original
Jurisdiction: A High Court has, under the Constitution, original jurisdiction
to make an order:
(i) directing a person within the territorial
jurisdiction of the Court to refrain from doing anything he is not permitted by
law or to do anything he is required by law;
(ii) declaring that any act done by a person
without lawful authority is of no legal effect;
(iii) directing that a person in custody be
brought before it, so that the court may satisfy itself that he is not being
held unlawfully;
(iv) giving such directions to any person or
authority, for the enforcement of any of the fundamental rights conferred by
the Constitution. Besides the original jurisdiction conferred by the
Constitution, a High Court has original jurisdiction in many other matters
conferred by or under various laws.
Appellate Jurisdiction: A High Court has extensive
appellate jurisdiction against the judgments, decisions, decrees and sentences
passed by the civil and criminal courts.
General: A High Court has the power to make rules
regulating its practice and procedure and of courts subordinate to it. Each
High Court supervises and controls all courts subordinate to it and any
decision of a High Court binds all courts subordinate to it.
Jurisdiction:
Original Jurisdiction:
The Court may examine and decide the question whether or not any law or
provision of law is repugnant to the injunctions of Islam as laid down in the
Holy Quran and Sunnah of the Holy Prophet. If the Court decides that any law or
provision of law is repugnant to the injunctions of Islam, it sets out the
extent to which such law or provision of law is so repugnant, and specifies the
day on which the decision shall take effect. Where any law is held to be
repugnant to the injunctions of Islam, the President in the case of Federal law
or the Governor in the case of a Provincial law is required to take steps to
amend the law so as to bring it in conformity with the injunctions of Islam,
and such law ceases to have effect from the specified day.
Appellate Jurisdiction:
The Court has exclusive jurisdiction to hear appeals from the decision
of criminal courts under any law relating to enforcement of Hudood Law i.e.
laws pertaining to offences to intoxication, theft, Zina (unlawful sexual
intercourse) and Qazf (false imputation of Zina).
Civil Courts
In every district of a Province, there is a Court of
District Judge which is the principal court of original jurisdiction in civil
matters.
Besides the Court of District Judge, there are courts of
Civil Judges. Civil Judges function under the supervision and control of
District Judge and all matters of civil nature originate in the courts of
Judges. The District Judge may, however, withdraw any case from any Civil Judge
and try it himself. Appeals against the judgments and decrees passed by the
Civil Judges in cases where the value of the suit does not exceed the specified
amount lie to the District Judge.
Criminal Courts
In every district, there is a Court of Sessions Judge and
Courts of Magistrates.
Criminal cases punishable with death and cases arising out
of the enforcement of laws relating to Hudood are tried by Sessions Judges. The
Court of a Sessions Judge is competent to pass any sentence authorised by law.
Offences not punishable with death are tried by Magistrates. Among the
Magistrates there are Magistrates of 1st Class, 2nd Class and 3rd Class. An
appeal against the sentence passed by a Sessions Judge lies to the High Court
and against the sentence passed by a Magistrate to the Sessions Judge if the
term of sentence is up to four years, otherwise to the High Court.
Special Courts and
Tribunals
To deal with specific types of cases, Special Courts and
Tribunals are constituted. These are: Special Courts for Trial of Offences in
Banks, Special Courts for Recovery of Bank Loans, Special Courts under the
Customs Act, Special Traffic Courts, Courts of Special Judges Anti-Corruption,
Commercial Courts, Drug Courts, Labour Courts, Insurance Appellate Tribunal,
Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, Accountability Courts, Anti-Terrorism Courts and
Services Tribunals. Appeals from the
Special Courts lie to the High Courts, except in case of Labour Courts and
Special Traffic Courts, which have separate forums of appeal.
The Ombudsman (Wafaqi Mohtasib)
The Concept
Mohtasib (Ombudsman) is an ancient Islamic concept and many Islamic States have
established the office of Mohtasib to ensure that no wrong or injustice is done
to the citizens. In the 18th century, when King Charles XII of
Establishment in
The Institution of Ombudsman was, however, actually
brought into being through the Establishment of the Office of Wafaqi Mohtasib
(Ombudsman) Order, 1983. The Wafaqi Mohtasib is appointed by the President of
Pakistan and holds office for a period of four years. He is assured of security
of tenure and cannot be removed from office except on ground of misconduct or
of physical or mental incapacity.
Jurisdiction: The chief purpose of the Wafaqi
Mohtasib is to diagnose, investigate, redress and rectify any injustice done to
a person through maladministration on the part of a Federal Agency or a Federal
Government official. The primary objective of the office is to institutionalise
a system for enforcing administrative accountability.
The term
"maladministration" has been defined in the law governing the office
of Mohtasib, to cover a very wide spectrum, encompassing every conceivable form
of administrative practice. It includes a decision, process, recommendation, an
act of omission or commission, which:
(a) is contrary to law, rules or regulations or is a departure from
established practice or procedure;
(b) is perverse, arbitrary or unreasonable,
unjust, biased, oppressive or discriminatory or is based on irrelevant grounds;
(c) involves the exercise of powers, or the
failure, or refusal to do so, for corrupt or improper motives.
It also
includes neglect, inattention, delay, incompetence, inefficiency, ineptitude in
the administration, or in the discharge of duties and responsibilities. The
term "Agency" has been defined as a Ministry, Division, Department,
commission, or Office of the Federal Government, or a Statutory corporation, or
any other institution established or controlled by the Federal Government.
Powers: If the Mohtasib finds an element
of bad administration in a matter, he can, after investigating the matter, ask
the Agency concerned to consider the matter further, to modify or cancel its
decision, to take disciplinary action against any public servant, to dispose of
the cases within a specified time, or to improve the working of the Agency, or
to take any other specified steps. Failure on the part of an Agency to comply
with the Ombudsman's recommendation is treated as "Defiance of
Recommendations" which may lead to reference of the matter to the
President of Pakistan, who, in his discretion may direct the Agency to implement
the recommendations.
The Mohtasib is empowered to award compensation to an
aggrieved person for any loss or damage suffered by that person on account of
maladministration. But if the complaint is found to be false, or frivolous, he
can also award compensation to the Agency or the functionary against whom the
complaint was made.
Jirga
Jirga, a Persian word, means a gathering, or a
consultation. Tribes had recourse to jirga to solve their multifarious problems
and hence it is now common known as the tribal justice system. These problems
covered a broad spectrum of subjects from an informal, community-based body
that was meant to settle small claims, the 'jirga', or council of tribal
elders, has in
On
The Federal Laws of Pakistan are published by the
Government in a document called the Gazette of Pakistan. The well known
law reporters, like the Pakistan Legal Decisions (PLD) and the Pakistan
Law Journal (PLJ), also contain the statutes in their statutes sections.
The major compilation for statutes, however, is the Pakistan Code. The
current code is spread over twenty-one (21) volumes dating from the year 1836
C.E. Volume twenty-one, the last published volume, contains the laws made up to
the year 1988. Code volumes for the years after 1988 are yet to be published
and made available. The Ministry of Justice, Law and Parliamentary affairs does
publish individual Acts when these are updated in the light of amendments, but
this is done through the Official Gazette. This means that the published
Code may not contain the updated law, and for the updated version one has to
wait for the new edition of the Code. The latest versions of the laws are
available from the government documents (Official Gazette) outlets and
bookstores. The Acts sold by the bookstores are usually, but not always, the
exact copies of the laws published officially. Thus, in many cases, the Acts
available from the market do not contain the official notes added by the
Ministry.
Judgments of the superior courts
are reported in journals published by:
All
Phone: +9242-7356228
Fax: +9242-7238113
Email: PLD@brain.net.pk
The largest supplier of law books
in
Phone: +9221-2639558
Fax: 2627549
The Sindh Balochistan Law Reports
are published by:
United Law Agency
Shahrah-e-Liaquat
New Challi
Phone: +9221-2431696
Fax: +9221-2423192
Email: alhouse@cyber.net.pk
The Pakistan Law Journal is
published by:
Phone: +9242-7237334
Email: pakistanlawjournal@yahoo.com
Url: www.pbbarcouncil.com
A good publisher for company and
tax law books is:
Salam Chambers
Phone: +9242-7359405
Fax: +9221-7226953
Email: lhr@sasalam.com.pk
Url: www.sasalam.com.pk
The
following websites may be of help to a legal researcher:
Pakistan.Gov is the official portal web site for the
Government of Pakistan and acts as a services gateway for citizens,
non-citizens and businesses dealing with it. Information about the Government's ministries,
divisions and departments, official publications like the Gazette of Pakistan,
downloadable, printable forms for the citizens, and a government directory are
some of the features of this site. It also features news updates, tender
notices and job vacancies. Categories of
its information and services gateways include agriculture, business, citizenship
and immigration, culture, district governments education, employment,
environment, health, housing and real estate information and media, law,
overseas Pakistanis, public utilities, regulations, religious affairs, safety
and security, science and technology, sports, tourism and travel, weather and
women.
Women in Technology (WIT) promote the use of technology as
a means for uplifting Pakistani women's social and financial status by
facilitating women's growth as a skilled workforce and mobilise them as a
resource in
From "Kolachi" to "
Election Commission of
Pakistan (ECP)
The Election Commission of Pakistan is an independent and
autonomous constitutional body charged with the function of conducting
transparent, free, fair and impartial elections to the National and Provincial
Assemblies. This upcoming website provides details about its organizational
policies and setup. These include the electoral system and rolls, demarcation
and delimitation of constituencies, criteria for voter eligibility, reports,
news and events. A set of frequently asked questions and a detailed telephone
directory are also available on this information-rich site.
Ministry of Interior, Government of Pakistan
This informative website outlines the Interior Ministry's
responsibilities, organizational structure, details about its various field
organizations and their tasks. Useful information is available for those
interested in applying for a passport, ID card, visa or citizenship in
NWFP Essential Institutional
Reforms Operationalisation Programme (EIROP)
Located in all the districts in
A special Task Force on Human Development comprising
experts from
The Supreme Court of Pakistan is the apex court in the
judicial hierarchy of the country. This website features its brief history,
biographies of the honourable judges and a list of officers. Downloadable
reports of various judgments and petitions are also available online.
Important agency-wise socio-economic indicators of
FATA 1999
This website comes under the aegis of the Bureau of
Statistics, Planning, Environment & Development Department, Government of
NWFP. It contains the eighth issue of important agency-wise socio-economic
indicators of FATA for the year 1998-99, a regular publication containing
interesting and important statistics related to agencies and frontier regions.
The purpose is to help planners, economists and administrators in planning,
monitoring and evaluating progress in the region. Statistical abstracts are
available on area and population, agriculture, crops production, education,
health, transport and communication. This site is a large repository of
information regarding FATA's housing, labour force, electricity, local bodies,
public health engineering and annual development programmes.
National
Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW), Government of Pakistan
The National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) was
set up in September 2000 to examine and review policy, laws and programmes of
the Government of Pakistan for women development and gender equality. This
information rich website provides details about the vision statement,
background and history, functions, the full text of the NCSW ordinance and
individual member information. Interesting features include the recommendations
made for women's rights in the light of the Constitution. This includes
political participation, citizenship, family laws, labour and service laws,
criminal laws, Qanun-e-Shahadat, 1984, violence against women, developmental
rights and institutionalization. Links to women-related issues and relevant
contact information are also available online.
Bureau of Statistics,
Government of NWFP
This website of the Bureau of Statistics contains the
district-wise statistical analysis of NWFP, searchable by its 24 districts and
graphical presentation. Categories include education, electricity, employment,
health, industries, irrigated and forest areas, land utilization, yield per
hectare, population, roads, post offices, rural drinking water and telephones. Online
publications include the development statistics and district-wise
socio-economic indicators of NWFP and FATA. A map of NWFP, the organizational
setup of the Bureau of Statistics, its publications, contact information and
related links are also available on this well-designed site.
The Official Website of the Government of Punjab
This website depicts various aspects of life in
Convention
on the Political Rights of Women
This website contains the text of the UN Convention on the
political rights of women (
Statistics Division, Government of Pakistan
The Statistics Division is responsible for the formulation
of policies and plans for statistical development and improvement of
statistical services in the country. This website's introduction begins by
outlining the Statistics Division's functions. It provides statistics on the
macro-economic framework and important social indicators of
Ministry of Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis
The Ministry of Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis
performs functions broadly related to policy formulation regarding labour
administration, manpower planning, and employment promotion. The site begins
with a brief introduction of its objectives and organizational structure.
"The Future", the news magazine on child labour is also available
here. There are links to government sites, attached departments, autonomous
bodies, and subordinate offices. A news section, relevant contact information,
and an online feedback form are also provided on this site.
This information rich website goes back to Gwadar's
ancient history in its well-written introduction. It gives details of the hierarchical
administrative setup, topography, and productive sources of economy. Intensive
information about Gwadar's customs and beliefs, climate and environment,
industries, social infrastructure, health, telecommunications, education,
population, financial institutions, and NGOs' involvement make for enlightened
reading.
Overseas Pakistanis Foundation
Overseas Pakistanis Foundation was established in March
1979. The Foundation works under the administrative control of the Ministry of
Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis Government of Pakistan. The mandate of
OPF covers its registered members overseas and their families in
PAKISTAN: Economic Policy Analysis
from MIEPA
The McKeever Institute of Economic Policy Analysis
(MIEPA), is a privately funded research institute, "dedicated to the
betterment of mankind through the promotion of sound economic policies".
Their site contains a description of recommended policies together with student
evaluations of a number of individual countries' economic policies. The
following section of the site presents an analysis of the
National
Strategies for Sustainable Development
Agenda 21, agreed to at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, calls
on all countries to introduce National Strategies for Sustainable Development
(NSSD). OECD's Development Action Committee (DAC) runs a project that involves
a review of experience with NSSDs, and other strategies for environment and
development, in a number of developing countries on the basis of consultations
with a range of stakeholders. This site has been prepared as a web based
planning tool to assist the process - providing necessary background and
reference material in support of these dialogues.
Governance
in Pakistan: The British Council
Governance is about the process of governing but it is not
simply about government. It is the way in which political, legal,
administrative, cultural and economic institutions interact with the interests
and demands of citizens to frame the society in which we live. The issues of
governance in
This site gives an overview of the northern areas of
In the beginning the netter can learn about the different
forms of government in the Asia/Near East regions then the implementation of
USAID democracy assistance programs has been outlined. Freedom House Ratings,
1997, is available. Actually, USAID uses the Freedom House index of political
rights and civil liberties to provide an assessment of whether a country is
free, partly free, or not free. Some statistical findings of such assistance
programs are available too, which enhances the understanding of the surfer
about the democracy and governance of ANE regions (
A detailed case study over the issue of governance in the
local sphere as the issues of governance has acquired fundamental importance in
The site carries within substantial information in the
context of Constitution. The amendments proposed or applied, orders effecting
the constitution and other insights concerning topic is engraved on the
website. Site is updated with recent and present situation regarding role of
Constitution.
United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP) in Pakistan
UNDP is part of the United Nations and upholds the vision
of the United Nations Charter. It is committed to the principle that
development is inseparable from the quest for peace and human security and that
the United Nations must be a strong force for development as well as peace.
UNDP's mission is to help countries in their efforts to achieve sustainable
human development by assisting them to build their capacity to design and carry
out develop women and the protection and regeneration of the environment,
giving first priority to poverty eradication. UNDP Pakistan addresses the issue
of poverty eradication and SHD through three programme areas: (a) governance;
(b) gender; and (c) sustainable livelihoods. This site is rich in its content.
UNDP Pakistan Overview gives a quick overview of the Programme. The interested
user can check out each Thematic Programme Area. For the ease of the netter a
Consolidated Project Listing is also available. The site has links to the Sub
Regional Resource Facility, Regional Governance Programme, Country Cooperation
Framework 1998-2003, and
Pakistan's Legislative History
This page contains
The website of Lahore High Court gives information about
the history of Lahore High Court. It provides links to the constitution,
jurisdiction, cause list, judges, roster, history, IT at LHC, administration,
rules and orders, announcements, other links.
The website of the High Court of Sindh gives information
about the history of Lahore High Court. It provides links to the constitution,
jurisdiction, cause list, judges, roster, history, IT at LHC, administration,
rules and orders, announcements, other links.
National Reconstruction Bureau
The role of the National Reconstruction Bureau is to
formulate policy/strategy options for National Construction for approval by the
National Security Council in order to implement good governance in all the
institutions of state. Along with the NRB information we can find Country Info,
Archive/Reference, What's New and www links.
The main functions of the Commission are: suggesting
reforms in laws and statutes including their modernization, unification and
codification; removal of anomalies and inconsistencies in laws, repeal of
obsolete provisions in statutes, adopting effective procedures for
administration of laws to ensure inexpensive and speedy justice, simplifying
laws for easy comprehension and suggesting steps to make the society
law-conscious, developing and augmenting human resources for efficient court
administration and case management, coordinating judiciary and executive,
preparing schemes for access to justices, legal aid and protection of human
rights, administering and managing the access to justice development fund,
introducing reforms in the administration of justice and recommending measures
for improvement in the standard/quality of legal education.
The site has information on the laws of
National Accountability Bureau
To eradicate corrupt practices, National Accountability
Bureau (NAB) has been established through a Presidential Ordinance for a free,
transparent, and across the board accountability, on
NAB is a statutory body enjoying total operational
independence. The Chairman is appointed for fixed tenure by the President in
consultation with Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
This site has information on the cases of corruption that
have been instituted by NAB and information on wanted individuals. It also
contains the text of the accountability laws in
Advanced Legal Studies Institute
The Institute was established in 1997 to promote research
in Islamic law and in the laws prevailing in Muslim countries, particularly in