Extradition Law and Procedure in Pakistan: An Appraisal of The Extradition Act 1972
Extradition Law and Procedure in Pakistan: An Appraisal of The Extradition Act 1972
Extradition Law and Procedure in Pakistan: An Appraisal of The Extradition Act 1972
Dr Aamir Abbas
Assistant Professor of Law
G. C. University, Faisalabad
Email: [email protected]
Abstract
This article analyses the law and procedure of extradition in Pakistan with special reference to Extradition Act 1972.
Extradition is a surrender of an accused or convicted person from one state to other state on its request. It is also
considered as a system by which one state delivers an accused person to another state on her demand. Moreover,
extradition is also used as a tool and considered to be one of the stages to secure international criminal justice system.
Furthermore, the focus of the study is to discuss the interpretation of Extradition Act 1972 by the superior courts in
their decisions. This study reveals that there are some lacunas in Extradition Act 1972 i.e., there is no provision which
safeguards the fugitive offenders from cruel, torture and other inhumane treatment in the requesting state, it does not
guarantee the fair trial of the offender in demanding state, additionally, this Act does not provide any right of appeal
against the order of surrender. Resultantly, this paper finds that Extradition Act 1972 provide less safeguard to the
fugitive offender and did not guarantee the fair trial in the requesting state.
Key Words: Extradition, Fugitive offender, Pakistan, Extradition Act 1972
1. Introduction
Extradition is a doctrine of International law, but it is accomplished by the cooperation of two or more states. Word
extradition is derived from two Latin words ‘ex’ and ‘tradition’. ‘Ex’ means ‘out’ and ‘tradition’ means ‘delivery or
handing over’. (Iqbal & Shah, 2017) The dictionary meaning of extradition is “the giving up or delivery of the person”
(Daudpota, 2010). In its technical sense, surrendering the accused person to the foreign state. However, there is no
universally accepted definition of extradition in international law because extradition procedure varies from state to
state. Different jurists defined it differently. One of the distinguished jurist Mr. Cherif Bassioune defined extradition
as, “Extradition is considered as a system by which one state delivers an accused person to another state on her
demand” (Bassioune, 2014).
Basically, Extradition is a procedure by which one state makes a request to other state for surrendering the accused or
convicted person for the purpose of trial or punishment. It is considered as a stage of criminal trial especially for
transnational offenders. Extradition comes into action when a person commits an offence on the territory of one state
and flees to other state in order to immune him from the criminal jurisdiction of that state. Requesting state can only
try or punish that offender once the offender reaches back on its territory. Therefore, this doctrine is also taken as a
tool for trying transnational offenders.
As stated earlier, extradition is cooperation between the states. Extradition cannot be achieved without cooperation of
the states therefore coordination is an essential ingredient for achieving it. International law provides the coordination
through bilateral and regional treaties. National legislations provide the mechanism to surrender the accused from its
territory and asking the other states to surrender the accused on its territory. Majorly this cooperation lasts between
two states as one state surrenders the accused to other state. In this collaboration one state is called as ‘requesting
state’ on whose territory offence is committed and other state is called as ‘requested state’ on whose territory offender
reaches after committing the offence.
Moreover, extradition procedure varies from one state to other state. This variation is due to different legal systems of
the world. Procedure of extradition is different in common legal system states and civil law states. For Instance, legal
requirement for extradition is more technical in common legal jurisdiction as compare to civil law states. The legal
system of Pakistan is amalgamation of common legal system and Islamic legal system, but common legal system leads
it. In this research articles, researcher shall discuss the extradition from Pakistan and Extradition in Pakistan by
elaborating and interpreting the Extradition Act 1972.
The researcher preferred the qualitative research methodology due to the very nature of research topic. Primary and
secondary sources will be used to collect data. Under the doctrinal research method, Primary sources may include the
bilateral treaties between Pakistan and other states, Extradition Act 1972 and Judgements of the Superior courts of
Pakistan. Secondary sources include books, reports, scholarly research articles, newspapers and credible information.
Since, the methodology is not quantitative therefore; conclusions may not be so accurate.
2. Literature Review
Extradition is one of the most significant and complex topics of international and municipal law because if an offender
flees from one state after committing the offence on its territory, than, extradition is the only instrument by which that
offender can be returned to the state where trial can be concluded. Moreover, there is no ample research on this said
topic; although, there are some articles on this topic with different perspective.
a. Anees Iqbal and Muhammad Qaiser Shah worked and publish an article on the topic "The Legal Conundrum
of Extradition Vis-A-Vis Constitution of Pakistan”. This piece of research discussed the extradition in general
and constitutional position of Extradition Act 1972. They concluded that this Act undermined the spirit of
fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution of Pakistan 1973. My piece of Article is different from this
research as I shall try to elaborate the provisions of Extradition Act 1972 and their interpretation by the
superior courts in their decisions.
b. “Extradition Law of Pakistan - Rights of Fugitive Offenders v. Pakistan’s Goal to Attain Honoured Place
Amongst the Nations of the World” is authored by Faisal K. Daudpota. This article is a major contribution
in my area of research as it discussed in detail the procedure of Extradition inquiry by Magistrate in Pakistan.
The emphasis of this article is to evaluate the constitutionality of Extradition Act 1972. However, I am
intending to work in different perspective by commenting and elaborating the Extradition Act 1972.
Article 8 (Constitution of Pakistan, 1973) of the COP states that if any law which contravenes or takes away the
fundamental rights of citizen as provided in COP will be void. The prayer of the petitioner was that the EA 1972
should be declared null and void. The Supreme Court rejected the petition and held that there is no inconsistency
between the COP and EA 1972. Supreme Court argued that Objective resolution is the Grund Norm (Harris, 1974)of
COP, it provides that the goal of Pakistan is to achieve the respect and honour among the nations of world by
international cooperation, peace and progress. It was also noted that principle of policy in Article 40 of the COP
provides that Pakistan will promote international peace and security. If Pakistan became the haven for the offenders,
then how it will achieve her goal at international level.
Legality of EA 1972 was assailed in Nargis Shaheen vs. Federation of Pakistan, (Nargis Shaheen Vs. Federation of
Pakistan, 1993) it was argued that this law is repugnant to the injunction of Islam as to surrender the Muslims to non-
Muslims. It was contended that Article 227 of COP 1973 (Constitution of Pakistan, 1973) states that any law which
is inconsistent with the injunction of Islam would be declared void. The High Court rejected the plea and based its
argument by referring the Hudebia Treaty (Khan, 2015).This treaty was between the non-Muslims of Mecca and
Muslims of Medina. One of the provisions in the treaty was that if a person fled from Mecca without the permission
of his/her Guardians then he/she will be returned to the people of Mecca. It was implemented in the case of Abu
Jandal, who was surrendered to the Mecca in compliance with the treaty of Hudebia. It is now well-settled law that
EA 1972 is intra vires of the COP.
5. Extradition Act 1972
The Extradition Act 1972 is a combination of substantive as well as procedural law. Researcher will examine the act
by commenting the significant sections of EA 1972. Moreover, interpretation of sections by superior courts shall also
come under the discussion.
Supreme Court of Pakistan decided in (Muhmmad Azim Malik Vs Government of Pakistan, 1989) the above cited
case that mere non-publication of treaty in official gazette has no bar to extradition if Pakistan has the valid extradition
treaty with that state.
Therefore, it can be rightly said that publication in gazette is a procedural requirement, but ratification is a substantial
requirement. Thus, if a treaty is not published in the gazette but ratified properly would be considered legally binding
on the state.
Sixth ground is not a ground of rejection in stricto senso. It is in actual the stay by the superior court to stop the
extradition proceedings. In Zulqarnain khan case, (Zulqarnain Khan Vs Government of Pakistan, 1994) Supreme court
stay the extradition inquiry on the ground that the accused person has to defend himself in the appeal before the high
court. So, accused person cannot be extradited till the decision of appeal.
Seventh ground of rejection is about the discrimination. There are four grounds of discrimination such as nationality,
religion, race and political opinions. If the requesting state intends to prosecute the accused person based on the above
mention discriminations, then the requested state is under no obligation to surrender the accused person.
Chapter IV - Miscellaneous
This chapter has seven sections, but the researcher will discuss only section 19 because it is one of the important
sections of the EA 1972.
On one side, extradition proceeding is a tool to deal with this type of situations and on the other hand, it safeguards
certain rights of the accused person against the fake extradition requests. For achieving international peace, every state
has enacted its own law to deals with the extradition procedures.
Government of Pakistan adopted Extradition Act 1903 in 1947. After 25 years of its independence, Pakistan enacted
an independent law to deal with the extradition procedures in Pakistan namely Extradition Act 1972. However,
extradition EA 1972 in Pakistan cannot be considered as an exhaustive piece of legislation. There are some lacunas in
Extradition Act 1972 which are needed to be discussed here. It does not protect the human rights in letter and spirit.
For example, exceptions provided in section 5 do not protect the fugitive offender from torture, cruelty, inhumane or
degrading treatment in the requested state. Moreover, it does not provide the fair trial to the fugitive offender in the
requesting state as requested state is not bound to prove the case in requesting state nor the legal requirements to prove
the case. Above all, right to appeal is one of the significant stages in justice system as irregularities and illegalities are
rectified in superior courts by way of appeal, this Act does not contain any provision relating to right of appeal.
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