Week 15 | Enforcement of Emergency, Curfew and 144 Cr.Pc

       In Pakistan’s short history of 63 years, state of emergency proclamations has been issued five times, necessitated by the doctrine of national security. The constitutional emergency provisions in Pakistan are essentially designed for the executive to immediately respond to a sudden national crisis without the need for the intervention of the legislature. The common legal consequence of a Proclamation is the redistribution of legislative and executive powers between the center and the federating units1. Even though emergencies are declared as conservative measures to stabilize the security situation in the State, they have each time brought with them further destabilizing hazards, suspension of the constitution, and usurpation of the fundamental rights of citizens. The emergency provisions inscribed in the Constitution are aimed to be protective and not repressive by nature. Extra-constitutional emergencies in the form of martial law have also been declared in Pakistan but those will not be the focus of our study. The study will endeavor to examine the conditions precedent for the declaration of emergencies under the Constitution of Pakistan 1973, its repercussions on fundamental rights of the citizens, and the scope of the executive and legislative powers under the emergency provisions.

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curfew-laws-freedom-of-movement-and-the-rights-of-juveniles.pdf (3.00 MB )

emergency-and-security-laws.pdf (0.25 MB )