Pakistan: Senate Passes Bill to Criminalize Child Sexual Abuse and Child...
(Mar. 22, 2016) On March 11, 2016, the Senate, the upper house of Pakistan’s federal legislature, passed a bill that includes a number of amendments to Pakistan’s Penal Code and Code of Criminal...
View ArticlePakistan: Bills Introduced on Increased Representation of Women in the...
(May 26, 2016) On May 16, 2016, a member of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and former law minister, Babar Awan, introduced a private member’s bill in the Senate, the upper house of Pakistan’s...
View ArticlePakistan: Regulatory Authority Bans Two Ramadan Programs
(June 29, 2016) On June 17, 2016, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA), an independent television and radio regulator, banned the transmission of two Ramadan TV specials, as one...
View ArticlePakistan: National Assembly Passes New Cybercrime Law
(Sept. 21, 2016) On August 11, 2016, Pakistan’s lower house, the National Assembly, passed a controversial cybercrime law called the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016. The Senate had...
View ArticlePakistan: National Assembly Passes Hindu Marriage Bill
(Nov. 15, 2016) On September 26, 2016, the Hindu Marriage Bill was unanimously passed in Pakistan’s National Assembly, after three previous failed attempts to pass the bill in 2008, 2011, and 2012....
View ArticlePakistan: Sindh Provincial Assembly Passes Law to Establish Commission for...
(Dec. 19, 2016) In what Assembly-member Nand Kumar Goklani called “a victory for the entire province,” Pakistan’s Sindh Province Assembly has unanimously adopted a private bill to establish a...
View ArticlePakistan: Sindh Provincial Assembly Passes New Law Prohibiting Forced...
(Dec. 22, 2016) On November 24, 2016, the provincial assembly of Pakistan’s Sindh Province passed a new law called the Criminal Law (Protection of Minorities) Act, 2015, which prohibits forced...
View ArticlePakistan: Federally Administered Tribal Areas to Be Merged with the Province...
(Mar. 16, 2017) On March 2, 2017, the Federal Cabinet of Pakistan approved recommendations of a reforms committee to “bring the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) in the mainstream” by merging...
View ArticlePakistan: Law Passed Extending Jurisdiction of Supreme Court and Peshawar...
(May 15, 2018) On April 13, 2018, Pakistan’s Senate (upper house of Parliament) passed a bill allowing the Federal government to extend the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and the Peshawar High Court...
View ArticlePakistan: Sindh Province Rejects Bill Against Forced Conversions
(Nov. 15, 2019) On October 8, 2019, the Provincial Assembly of Sindh Province rejected a bill criminalizing forced religious conversions. This was the second attempt at enacting an anti-conversion law...
View ArticlePakistan: Electronic Media Regulatory Authority Issues Directive Barring TV...
(Nov. 21, 2019) On October 27, 2019, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA), an independent federal institution responsible for regulating the issuance of broadcasting licenses and...
View ArticlePakistan: Federal Government Issues Controversial Rules on Social Media Content
(Mar. 3, 2020) On January 21, 2020, the federal government of Pakistan issued through a notification the Citizens Protection (Against Online Harm) Rules, 2020, made in accordance with the Rules’ two...
View ArticlePakistan: Federal Cabinet Delays Approval of Bill to Protect Journalists
(Mar. 23, 2020) On February 25, 2020, the federal cabinet of Pakistan delayed the formal approval of a federal government bill to ensure the protection and safety of journalists. The bill, which was...
View ArticlePakistan: Federal Government Introduces Ordinance to Ban Food Hoarding by...
(Apr. 28, 2020) On April 17, 2020, the Pakistani media reported that a new ordinance had been promulgated by the president of Pakistan, Dr. Arif Alvi, to discourage hoarding of essential commodities by...
View ArticlePakistan: "Smart Lockdown" Imposed across Cities of Pakistan as Covid-19...
(June 25, 2020) On June 13, 2020, the prime minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, announced in a televised address to the nation that a “smart lockdown” strategy would be imposed on certain hot spots...
View ArticlePakistan: Supreme Court Bars Use of Death Penalty for Inmates with Serious...
(Mar. 3, 2021) On February 10, 2021, a five-member bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in a landmark judgment barred the use of the death penalty for inmates with serious mental illness or disorders...
View ArticlePakistan: Domestic Violence Bill Referred to Council of Islamic Ideology
In a letter to National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser dated July 5, 2021, the adviser on parliamentary affairs to Pakistan’s prime minister, Babar Awan, recommended that the Domestic Violence...
View ArticlePakistan: Supreme Court Issues Detailed Judgment on Dismissal of Resolution...
On July 13, 2022, the Supreme Court of Pakistan published a judgment detailing the reasons for issuing its landmark unanimous short order dated April 7, 2022. That order declared the ruling of the...
View ArticlePakistan: President Grants Assent to Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention...
On November 1, 2022, the president of Pakistan, Arif Alvi, granted his assent to the Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention and Punishment) Bill, 2022, which criminalizes torture, rape, and death of...
View ArticlePakistan: Federal Shariat Court Upholds Punjab Protection of Women against...
On Nov. 22, 2022, the Federal Shariat Court (FSC) of Pakistan issued a judgment determining that no provision of the Punjab Protection of Women against Violence Act, 2016, a law enacted by the...
View ArticlePakistan: Amendment to Blasphemy Law Passes in Lower House of Parliament
On January 17, 2023, the National Assembly, the lower house of Pakistan’s federal Parliament, unanimously passed an amendment to Pakistan’s blasphemy law through the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Act,...
View ArticlePakistan: Balochistan Government Drafts Bill Outlawing Child Marriage
On March 22, 2023, the government of Balochistan province in Pakistan reportedly informed Pakistan’s Federal Shariat Court (FSC) that it had finalized a bill outlawing child marriage and would be...
View ArticlePakistan: Supreme Court Temporarily Bars Government from Enforcing Supreme...
On April 13, 2023, the Supreme Court of Pakistan issued an interim order barring the government from enforcing the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act, 2023.The original bill was approved by the...
View ArticlePakistan: National Assembly Passes Contempt of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament)...
On May 16, 2023, the National Assembly of Pakistan, the lower house of Pakistan’s Parliament, passed the Contempt of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) Bill, 2023. The private bill was introduced by Rana...
View ArticlePakistan: Sindh High Court Releases on Bail Ahmadi Lawyer Arrested for Using...
On May 22, 2023, the Sindh High Court issued an order releasing on bail an applicant who was arrested for using the title “Syed” (descendant of the Prophet Muhammad) in his name. The applicant, a...
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