Disturbed Areas (Special Powers) Ordinance, 1962

This 1962 Ordinance gives magistrates, police officers, and armed forces personnel extra powers to use force in areas that a Provincial Government has formally declared "disturbed" by official notification. Section 2 defines a disturbed area and clarifies which ranks of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Civil Armed Forces count as "officers" for the law's purposes.

Section 3 is the core provision: if a magistrate or a police officer in charge of a police party believes it is necessary to maintain public order, they may -- after giving an appropriate warning -- fire on or otherwise use force against anyone violating a law or order banning assemblies of five or more people, or the carrying of weapons, in a disturbed area. Sub-section (2) explicitly makes clear this force may be lethal, and shields the person using it from consequences for causing death in the course of exercising this power.

Section 4 extends similar powers to officers of the Armed Forces and Civil Armed Forces in a disturbed area: they may exercise the same force powers as a magistrate or police officer, arrest without a warrant anyone suspected of committing or about to commit a cognizable (serious) offence, and enter and search premises without a warrant to make such an arrest, rescue someone wrongfully confined, or recover suspected stolen property or unlawfully-held arms.

Section 5 bars any prosecution, civil suit, or other legal proceeding against anyone for actions taken under sections 3 or 4, unless the Provincial Government (for a magistrate or police officer) or the Federal Government (for armed forces personnel) has given prior written sanction. Section 6 has since been omitted, and a schedule originally attached to the Ordinance was also removed by later amendment.

This is an old, security-focused ordinance from 1962 that grants extraordinary use-of-force and arrest powers, and the extract shows amendment footnotes ("Subs. by", "Omitted by" the Federal Laws (Revision and Declaration) Ordinance, 1981), so its current text and any operative details should be verified against the official record.