Extradition Act, 1972

This 1972 Act consolidates Pakistan's law on extradition — the process of surrendering a fugitive offender to another country, or bringing an accused person back to Pakistan from abroad. Section 2 defines an "extradition offence" as one listed in the Act's Schedule that would also be a crime under Pakistani law, and distinguishes "treaty States" (countries with an extradition treaty with Pakistan) from other foreign states. Sections 3 and 4 let the Federal Government formally declare treaty States by Gazette notification, and extend the Act's extradition procedures to non-treaty states as well, by special direction.

Section 5 sets out when a fugitive offender is liable to be surrendered, and importantly lists the situations where surrender must be refused — including where the offence is of a "political character," where it carries less than twelve months' imprisonment or isn't punishable by death or life imprisonment, where prosecution is already time-barred in the requesting state, or where the person might be persecuted because of race, religion, nationality or political opinion if surrendered. Sections 6 through 11 describe the extradition process itself: a formal requisition is made to the Federal Government, a Magistrate holds an inquiry into whether there's a prima facie case (Sections 7–9), and if satisfied, the Magistrate reports to the Federal Government, which then decides whether to issue a warrant for the person's surrender.

Section 12 protects the fugitive offender by allowing the High Court to order their release if they are not actually removed from Pakistan within two months of being taken into custody, and Section 13 lets the Federal Government stay or cancel extradition proceedings if it considers the request trivial, made in bad faith, or otherwise unjust. Chapter III (Sections 15–17) covers the reverse situation — requesting the surrender of an accused person to Pakistan from a treaty State — and guarantees such a person won't be tried in Pakistan for any offence other than the one for which they were extradited, unless they are first given a chance to leave.

The Schedule lists the specific offences covered by the Act, including culpable homicide, rape, kidnapping, bribery, forgery, robbery, arson, drug offences, piracy, and (added by later amendments) financing of terrorism and money laundering. The extract shows footnoted amendments as recent as 2025, including a 2025 change to who can order a magisterial inquiry, so specific procedural details (such as which official issues the inquiry order) should be checked against the current official text.