Ehtram-e-Ramazan Ordinance, 1981

This Ordinance requires public observance of the sanctity of the month of Ramazan across Pakistan, reflecting Islamic religious requirements around the fast. Section 2 defines "public place" broadly to include hotels, restaurants, canteens, rooms, tents, roads, and any place the public can access.

Section 3 prohibits any person who is religiously obligated to fast from eating, drinking, or smoking in a public place during fasting hours during Ramazan, punishable with simple imprisonment up to three months, a fine up to five hundred rupees, or both. Section 4 similarly bars proprietors, managers, or staff of hotels, restaurants, canteens, or other public places from knowingly serving food to a fasting person during fasting hours, with the same penalty.

Section 5 sets out exemptions from the serving prohibition: hospital canteens serving patients, restaurants and canteens at railway stations, trains, airports, seaports, or bus stands, dining cars on trains, and canteens or kitchens for children within primary schools. Section 6 requires cinemas, theatres, and similar establishments to close from sunset until three hours after sunset during Ramazan, with contravention punishable by imprisonment up to six months, a fine up to five thousand rupees, or both.

Section 7 empowers magistrates and various local government officials (district council chairmen, mayors, Zakat and Ushr committee members) to enter public places and arrest suspected offenders, with special summary-trial procedures available. Section 8 governs how complaints are made and prosecuted, and Section 10 makes the Ordinance override any other conflicting law.

This is an older law from 1981; the specific fine amounts (five hundred and five thousand rupees) reflect 1981-era values, so anyone checking exact current penalties should verify against the latest official text, as such figures are sometimes updated by later amendment.