Environmental Law in Pakistan - IUCN

3.1 Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan 1973Pakistan’s chief legal instrument is the 1973 Constitution.It establishes the relationship between the federalgovernment and the provinces, and empowers thefederal and provincial governments to perform theirdesignated functions.On 12 October 1999, a state of emergency was declared throughout Pakistan, the Constitution washeld in abeyance, and the national and provincial assemblies were suspended. This marked thesecond occasion on which the Constitution of 1973 was held in abeyance; the first time was duringthe period 5 July 1977–2 March 1985. Immediately following the declaration of the 1999 emergency,a series of provisional constitution orders and executive orders, issued between October andDecember of that year, provided for the functioning of the government, and awarded legislativepowers to the chief executive and provincial governors (Order 1 of 1999, Order 5 of 1999 and Order9 of 1999). The following year the national and provincial assemblies were dissolved.In the period during which the assemblies remained dissolved, the legislative process wassubstituted by a series of orders and ordinances issued by the chief executive and provincialgovernors. Bypassing the usual procedure for legislative ratification, ordinances issued between1999 and 2002 were validated by the Constitution (Seventeenth Amendment) Act 2003. Theseordinances remain in force and do not need to be adopted by the relevant legislative body. Noordinances were issued on matters related to the environment, natural resources or theirmanagement during this period.By March 2003, the Constitution was restored. The process was carried out in phases, fromNovember 2002 to March of the following year, and included the promulgation of the LegalFramework Order 2002 which amended the Constitution. All of the constitutional amendments madeduring this period, which were the subject of debate, were passed into law in 2003 via theConstitution (Seventeenth Amendment) Act. Elections to the national and provincial assemblieswere held on 10 October 2002, and polls for the Senate were held on 24 February 2003.3.2 Legislative ActsFirst in the hierarchy of sub-constitutional legal instruments are acts passed by the legislativebranch of government—the national and provincial assemblies. Here, federal law controls. UnderArticle 143 of the Constitution, if legislation passed by a provincial assembly comes into conflict witha law enacted by the national assembly, the federal statute overrides the provincial one to the extentof the inconsistency.03Hierarchy ofLegalInstruments19EnvironmentalLaw in PakistanFederal