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We deal with all aspects of regulation and proceedings before the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) which is a federal body established under the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority Ordinance 2002 to foster competition, increase private investment and ownership in the midstream and downstream petroleum industry, protect the public interest while respecting individual rights and provide effective and efficient regulations.

The Directorate General of Concessions of the Policy Wing of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas oversees the upstream activities in the oil and gas fields. The Government of Pakistan operates a policy of favourable treatment towards foreign entities and incentives include equality between local and foreign investors, no barriers to FDI, 100% foreign equity, specialised export processing zones and lenient rules in relation to remitting royalties and technical and franchise fees.

Khan & Co Barristers-at-Law are committed to providing advice and services in relation to establishing independent power projects in Pakistan, which, of course, is an energy deficient country. Our expertise also lies in legal issues in the fields of mining, LNG/CNG, labour, drilling, petroleum and renewable energy and the effects of taxation in the energy sector.

We are regular participants in London’s Global Mining Finance Conferences and have an extensive network of contacts in the international mining industry. So whatever your issue, we are here to assist you and will help you cut through the red tape and get the results that you want. Should you need any advice or representation in relation to the OGRA rules and regulations, Khan & Co Barristers-at-Law are here to help you at reasonable rates right around the clock.

Years of dictatorship and censure meant that Pakistan’s media and press were historically in chains. Therefore, the freedoms that we have become accustomed to over the past decade in Pakistan require that we – i.e. individuals, the press and the media – understand the dynamics of the digital age. Khan & Co Barristers-at-Law are committed to ensuring that the media and telecommunications law in Pakistan is properly utilised and that ethics are maintained when constitutional freedom of speech is exercised.

In Pakistan, defamation constitutes a criminal act under the Defamation Ordinance 2002 (as amended). There are two kinds of defamation under Pakistani Law, i.e. libel and slander. The publication of defamatory matter is an actionable wrong without proof of special damage to the person defamed.

Breaching the law incurs compensatory damages not less than 300,000 Rupees for the plaintiff (claimant). However, some of the defences in an action for defamation are that the defendant:

• Is not the author, publisher, or printer of the statement complained of
• The matter commented on is fair and in the public interest, constitutes an expression of opinion and not an assertion of fact, and published in good faith
• The matter complained of is based on truth and was made for the public good
• The matter complained of was privileged communication such as between a lawyer and a client or between persons having fiduciary relations.

Under the Ordinance, no action for defamation will lie unless the plaintiff, within two months after the publication of the defamatory matter, gives a 14-day written notice to the defendant from the date of knowledge of the publication. Likewise, an action for defamation will lie if the action is filed within six months from the time of knowledge of the publication of the defamatory matter.

The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) is the statutory body established under PEMRA Ordinance 2002 to facilitate and regulate the private electronic media. It has the mandate to improve the standards of information, education and entertainment and to enlarge the choice available to the people of Pakistan Including news, current affairs, religious knowledge, art and culture as well as science and technology.

PEMRA is responsible for facilitating and regulating the establishment and operation of all broadcast media and distribution services in Pakistan established for the purpose of international, national, provincial, district, and local or special target audiences. It seeks to:

• Improve the standards of information, education and entertainment
• Enlarge the choice available to the people of Pakistan in the media for news, current affairs, religious knowledge, art, culture, science, technology, economic development, social sector concerns, music, sports, drama and other subjects of public and national interest.
• Facilitate the devolution of responsibility and power to the grass roots by improving the access of the people to mass media at the local and community level.
• Ensure accountability, transparency and good governance by optimisation the free flow of information.

Should you need any advice in relation to PEMRA and licencing regime please do not hesitate to contact us with your query.

In addition to mainstream media law, we also routinely act in cases related to cyber crime in the connected field of telecommunications law. Please contact Khan & Co Barristers-at-Law if you suspect that you are a victim of cyber crime or require advice in relation to electronic crimes, data damage, electronic fraud, criminal access to private files, electronic forgery, misuse of encryption and abuse of code.

We accept instructions in relation to all cases falling within the ambit of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance 2008, the Payments and Electronic Fund Transfers Act 2007, the Electronic Transactions Ordinance 2002, the Pakistan Telecommunication (Reorganisation) Act 1996, the Federal Investigation Agency Act 1974, the Wireless Telephony Act 1885 and the Telegraph Act 1974.

The Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance 2008 applies to any person who commits an offence under its terms irrespective of his nationality or citizenship whatsoever or in any place outside or inside Pakistan, having detrimental effect on the security if Pakistan or its nationals or national harmony or any property or any electronic system or data located in Pakistan or any electronic system or data capable of being connected, sent to, used by or with any electronic system in Pakistan.

The law provides exclusive powers to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to investigate and charge cases against such crimes. Illegal and criminal acts such as data access, data damage, system damage, electronic fraud, electronic forgery, spamming, spoofing, cyber terrorism etc are all covered under the Ordinance and sentences for convicted persons range from two years’ imprisonment to the death penalty.

Intermarriage and interaction between people from different countries and cultures sometimes causes stress and problems when things go wrong for couples. Children may be moved between jurisdictions by consent between their parents or as a result of legal action. They may also be moved between jurisdictions because they have been abducted in clear breach of the law.

We have successfully represented American, British, Canadian, European parents and parents of other nationalities in Pakistan in proceedings under the Guardians and Wards Act 1980 and related family law legislationsuch as the Child Marriage Restraint Act 1929, the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act 1939, the Muslim Family Law Ordinance 1961, the (West Pakistan) Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act 1962, the (West Pakistan) Family Courts Act 1964 and the Dowry and Bridal Gifts (Restriction) Act 1976. We also have a concentration in this regard in relation issues surrounding forced marriage and child abduction and wrongful retention.

The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction 1980 lays down the framework for addressing issues in relation to children who are wrongfully removed from one jurisdiction to another. It also tackles issues in relation to retention of children outside the country of their habitual residence. The Hague Convention sets out the law and procedure that should be followed to ensure the immediate return of children to the jurisdiction of their habitual residence. The Convention attempts to address and resolve the dilemmas posed by the movement of children across international borders.

On 22 December 2016, Pakistan deposited its instrument of accession to the Hague Convention of 25 October 1980 on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abductionand thus became the 96th Contracting State to the Convention. The Convention entered into force for Pakistan on 1 March 2017. Pakistan designated a judge in 2013 to the International Hague Network of Judges (IHNJ) specialised in child and family law matters, the Honourable Mr Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, former Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Pakistan (now retired). Justice Jillani also served as co-Chair to the Working Party on Mediation, established in 2009 within the “Malta Process,” to facilitate the development of mediation structures to resolve cross-border family disputes. The Malta Process promotes co-operation with countries with legal systems influenced by or based upon Shari’a law, for the international protection of children and the resolution of complex, trans-frontier family conflicts.

Pakistan also played an active role in the recent May 2016 Fourth Malta Conference on cross-frontier child protection and family law (“Malta IV”) within the Malta Process. The Malta IV meeting recognised that the 1980 Child Abduction Convention, the 1996 Child Protection Convention and the2007 Child Support Convention support a number of key principles expressed in the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, all in the best interests of children. The experts noted that these Hague Children’s Conventions are designed to be global in reach and to be compatible with diverse legal traditions. While not a Member State of the Hague Conference, Pakistan is now a Contracting State to two Hague Conventions, the other instrument being the Convention of 15 November 1965 on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters.

The Hague Convention provides a structure to support contracting states, by providing a various civil, non-criminal, legal formalities and procedures for the protection and safe return of abducted children when taken abroad by a parent or a custodian from Convention countries.

While ratifying the Convention, Pakistan has ensured that it will apply to all its and confirmed in its acceding statement that the Hague Convention is a state specific multi-lateral commitment. Therefore, it is now an obligation of the Federal Government to ensure its implementation through appropriate means and vested powers to the Central Authority under statute as of 25 September 2017. However in its accession, Pakistan has also made certain reservations in relation to articles 8, 10, 15 and 16 of the Convention.

Pakistani law deals with child abduction with provisions from the Pakistan Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Guardian and Wards Act 1890. The Hague Convention, under article 2, requires contracting states to make all necessary efforts to implement the Convention in their domestic legal system. Accordingly, subsection 3 of section 5 of the West Pakistan Family Courts Act 1964

has been amended by virtue of SRO No 980 (1) 2017 to include in its schedule Part 1 No – 6A “Matter pertaining to return of the child under the Hague Convention on Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction,1980” so as to transpose international standards into Pakistan’s domestic law. The amendment automatically extends the jurisdiction of all family courts in Pakistan dealing cases under section 25 of Guardian and Wards Act 1890 to entertain matters relating to international child abduction disputes concerning custody, orders passed by foreign courts and judgments from contracting states of the Hague Convention.

The Solicitor General’s Office in the Ministry of Law, Justice and Human Rights in Pakistan is the designated Central Authority under article 6 of the Convention. Therefore, Pakistan is now finally ready to interact robustly on children’s issues with the rest of the world. All this is very helpful to the millions of overseas Pakistanis and the entry of the Convention into force in domestic Pakistani law is a very positive sign. It is, indeed, the beginning of a new chapter in international legal cooperation in Pakistan’s judicial history.

Through our well established and trustworthy network in the UK, Khan & Co Barristers-at-Law provide specialist advice and representation in child abduction law and deals with matters in England and Wales under the Children Act 1989 and allied legislation. With the exception of Denmark, the EC Regulation 2201/2003 (or ‘Brussels II’) applies to all European Community Member States as regards parental responsibility of children, and it lays down that the court of the Member State in which the child is habitually resident will generally have jurisdiction.