Exit from Pakistan (Control) Ordinance, 1981

This 1981 Ordinance gives the Federal Government power to prevent specific individuals or categories of people from leaving Pakistan, even if they hold valid passports and travel documents.

Section 2 is the core power: the Federal Government may, by order, prohibit any person or class of persons from travelling from Pakistan to a destination outside the country, regardless of whether they possess valid travel documents. Before making such an order, the government does not need to give the affected person a chance to argue against it beforehand, and if disclosing the grounds for the order would not be in the public interest, the government does not need to state those grounds at all.

Section 3 gives an aggrieved person a limited right of review: within fifteen days of the order being made, they may submit a representation to the Federal Government explaining why the order should be reviewed, and the government must give them an opportunity to be heard before deciding. Subject to the outcome of that review, however, the original exit-prohibition order is final and cannot be challenged before any court or other authority.

Section 4 sets the penalty for violating, attempting to violate, conspiring to violate, or helping someone else violate such an order: imprisonment for up to five years. Section 5 lets the Federal Government make further implementing rules.

This is an older ordinance (1981) that grants the government broad, largely court-proof power to bar individuals from leaving the country, with the specific five-year maximum imprisonment penalty stated directly in the extract.