Pakistan: How to Suppress the Offence of Extra-Judicial Killing in the Light of Superior Courts’ Decisions - (Reforming Criminal Justice Series)

Abstract

This purpose of this article is to identify suitable criminal justice reforms measures, aimed at reducing the offense of extra-judicial killing, in the light of extensive jurisprudence developed by Pakistan's courts. This article is a pro-bono academic research and capacity building initiative to improve the criminal justice system of Pakistan. This article attempts to highlight that the lack of any strategy to suppress extra-judicial killing is an unconstitutional policy defect to this control crime, and that the act of extra-judicial killing should be expressly identified as a per se crime on the statute books in order to reduce its occurrences. This article has been structured into three parts and four appendices. The first part highlights that (from criminal justice perspective) the policy of indifference to unchecked extra-judicial killing is a faulty as it attempts to punish the criminals in a quick fix manner. This part also notes that act of extra-judicial killing, is also a violation of the guaranteed fundamental right to life under Article 9 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973 (Constitution). The second part (and appendix I) summarizes the thresholds as to judicial inquiries in Pakistan’s criminal justice system, as being ineffective to check extra-judicial killings. The third part (and appendices II, III, and IV) identify the necessity for a criminal trial to scrutinize the offense of extra-judicial killing, as well as discusses the jurisprudence as to the defense of justifiable homicide (in the context of private defense) that is available to perpetrators of extra-judicial killing under Pakistan’s jurisprudence. This part also contains author’s conclusions and recommendation for the needed statutory reform to create a new per se offense of extra-judicial killing.