Rethinking Criminal Justice in Pakistan
This article highlights how to rethink and re-design a more optimistic discourse on the subject of criminal justice reform in Pakistan.
International Human Rights Standards: a tool for Pakistan’s criminal justice system?
This article highlights recent instances where international human rights standards have been recognised in Pakistan’s criminal courts and analyses how they may be used as a tool within the criminal justice system.
Implementation of Anti Rape (Investigation and Trial) Ordinance 2020
This piece is concerned with the enactment of ITO 2020 and its implementation or lack thereof, while relying on the seminal Lahore High Court judgement in Yasir v. the State case as a guiding framework.
Protection Against Harassment Of Women At Workplace Act 2010
The article analyses the obstacles that have prevented effective implementation of the Protection Against Harassment of Women at Workplace Act (PAHWWA) 2010, and the progress that has been achieved since it was enacted
Criminal Justice Reform – Delayed FIRs and Ineffective Witness Protection Programs
This article focuses on the role of Pakistan’s Criminal Justice System (CJS) with regards to establishing rule of law, with an emphasis on two oft-stated issues – delays in the registration of First Information Reports (FIRs), and poorly implemented witness protection programs. In addition to highlighting the causes and effects of the aforementioned issues, it also sheds light on the apparent failure of recent interventions that were made to mitigate these problems, before concluding with possible suggestions to resolve these issues.
Reviewing Penal Policy through Probation and Parole in Pakistan
This article focuses on the existing legislation on probation and parole in Pakistan, and explores the possibility of reforms in the existing legislation.
Mapping Pakistan’s Response to COVID-19 in Prisons
The Pakistan Prison Rules do not provide an adequate legal infrastructure to combat a viral pandemic outbreak. Rule 800 highlights the protocol for admission of new prisoners in situations where an epidemic disease is prevalent.
Justice System Response to Crimes Against Women
A society responds to crimes and wrongs in various ways. At an institutional level, it responds through its justice system, which manifests itself through its criminal and civil streams. The countries that accord priority to crimes and wrongs being caused to their citizens undertake serious academic research and then link the research to larger public policy to redress the grievances of their citizens.
Investigating and Prosecuting Foreign Terrorist Fighters under Pakistani Law
The phenomenon of Foreign Terrorist Fighters (FTFs) became a significant part of the international discourse in 2012, with the inflow of foreign fighters in Iraq and Syria to join the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria “ISIS” (also known as Islamic State of Iraq and Levant, or Daesh). In response to the threat posed by FTFs, Security Council Resolution 2178 was passed under binding Chapter VII powers, which urged member states to “ensure that their domestic laws and regulations establish serious criminal offences sufficient to provide the ability to prosecute and to penalize in a manner duly reflecting the seriousness of the offense”.
The Primacy of Federal Criminal Law in National Security
Owing to the latest national security concerns, the centrality and primacy of criminal law in meeting national security requirements cannot be discounted. This post examines areas of concern that must be considered while imagining the role of criminal law in national security.