Policy Brief 27/09/2023
In the constitutional history of Pakistan, the objective resolution is considered as a
guiding document which enshrined that no law shall be enacted which is repugnant to
the Holy Quran and Sunnah. In accordance with this constitutional requirement, the
Shariat Appellate Bench in Gul Hassan Case declared most of the clauses of Pakistan
Penal Code relating to murder as inconsistent with Holy Quran and Sunnah. However,
it is essential to divulge into the spirits and operations of Quranic injunctions on Qatl
to decipher the scale of inconsistencies which were presumably present in the
originally enacted sections of PPC. Moreover, a comparison between the currently and
originally enacted sections of PPC in the light of Islamic teachings is necessary to
identify the legal problems which are currently present in PPC. This identification
results in prescription of a clear solution to these problems which are following:
1) Section 304-A of PPC (old) should be reenacted with the provision of diyat and
the addition of word ‘mistake’
2) Distinction of Tazir and Qisas in the punishment of proven murder needs to
end.
3) The section relating to self-defence must include the wisdom of evolved
jurisprudence.
