Last Change:
05/01/2025
Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan
Year: 1973
Type: Domestic law
Rights Category: Asylum, Education, Freedom of movement, Health, Housing, land & property, Liberty & security of person, Nationality & facilitated naturalization, Social protection, Work & Workplace rights, Family life, Documentation
Description
The 1973 Constitution of Pakistan is intended to guide the rule of law, its enforcement, and the governance of its institutional system. It identifies the state (its physical existence and its borders), people and their fundamental rights.
Selected provisions
The State shall discourage parochial, racial, tribal, sectarian and provincial prejudices among the citizens.
Every citizen shall have the right to remain in, and, subject to any reasonable restriction imposed by law in the public interest, enter and move freely throughout Pakistan and to reside and settle in any part thereof.
The State shall protect the marriage, the family, the mother and the child.
The State shall ensure the elimination of all forms of exploitation and the gradual fulfillment of the fundamental principle, from each according to his ability to each according to his work.
The State shall :
(a) secure the well-being of the people, irrespective of sex, caste, creed or race, by raising their standard of living, by preventing the concentration of wealth and means of production and distribution in the hands of a few to the detriment of general interest and by ensuring equitable adjustment of rights between employers and employees, and landlords and tenants;
(b) provide for all citizens, within the available resources of the country, facilities for work and adequate livelihood with reasonable rest and leisure;
(c) provide for all persons employed in the service of Pakistan or otherwise, social security by compulsory social insurance or other means;
(d) provide basic necessities of life, such as food, clothing. housing, education and medical relief, for all such citizens, irrespective of sex, caste, creed or race, as are permanently or temporarily unable to earn their livelihood on account of infirmity, sickness or unemployment;
(e) reduce disparity in the income and earnings of individuals, including persons in the various classes of the service of Pakistan;
(f) eliminiate riba completely before the first day of January, two thousand twenty-eight; and
(g) the shares of the Provinces in all federal services, including autonomous bodies and corporations established by, or under the control of, the Federal Government, shall be secured and any omission in the allocation of the shares of the Provinces in the past shall be recitified.
Subject to such qualifications, if any, as may be prescribed by law, every citizen shall have the right to enter upon any lawful profession or occupation, and to conduct any lawful trade or business:
Provided that nothing in this Article shall prevent:-
(a) the regulation of any trade or profession by a licensing system; or
(b) the regulation of trade, commerce or industry in the interest of free competition therein; or
(c) the carrying on, by the Federal Government or a Provincial Government, or by a corporation controlled by any such Government, of any trade, business, industry or service, to the exclusion, complete or partial, of other persons.
The State shall:
(a) promote, with special care, the educational and economic interests of backward classes or areas;
(b) remove illiteracy and provide free and compulsory secondary education within minimum possible period;
(c) make technical and professional education generally available and higher education equally accessible to all on the basis of merit;
(d) ensure inexpensive and expeditious justice;
(e) make provision for securing just and humane conditions of work, ensuring that children and women are not employed in vocations unsuited to their age or sex, and for maternity benefits for women in employment;
(f) enable the people of different areas, through education, training, agricultural and industrial development and other methods, to participate fully in all forms of national activities, including employment in the service of Pakistan;
(g) prevent prostitution, gambling and taking of injurious drugs, printing, publication, circulation and display of obscene literature and advertisements;
(h) prevent the consumption of alcoholic liquor otherwise than for medicinal and, in the case of non-Muslims, religious purposes; and
(i) decentralise the Government administration so as to facilitate expeditious disposal of its business to meet the convenience and requirements of the public.
(1) Every citizen shall have the right to form associations or unions, subject to any reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the interest of sovereignty or integrity of Pakistan, public order or morality.
(2) Every citizen, not being in the service of Pakistan, shall have the right to form or be a member of a political party, subject to any reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the interest of the sovereignty or integrity of Pakistan and such law shall provide that where the Federal Government declares that any political party has been formed or is operating in a manner prejudicial to the soverignty or integrity of Pakistan, the Federal Government shall, within fifeen days of such declaration, refer the matter to the Supreme Court whose decision on such reference shall be final.
(3) Every political party shall account for the source of its funds in accordance with law.