Pakistan Coast Guards Act, 1973

The Pakistan Coast Guards Act, 1973 creates and regulates the Pakistan Coast Guards, a force focused on securing the country's coastal areas along the Arabian Sea. Section 3 lists its core functions: preventing smuggling, stopping illegal immigration and emigration, blocking enemy agents or saboteurs from infiltrating along the coast, and supplementing national defence during war. The "coastal area" it covers is precisely mapped in the First Schedule, running from the Pak-Iran border through southern Balochistan and Sindh to the Arabian Sea, excluding the limits of established ports.

Section 4 lets the Federal Government appoint officers from Pakistan's Defence Services as Director General, Deputy Director General, Commandant, or other commissioned officers, while Section 5 allows the Director General to recruit junior commissioned officers and other staff by direct recruitment, promotion, or deputation. Section 6 places the Force under the Director General's command, subject to Federal Government oversight. Section 8 makes every officer and member subject to the Pakistan Army Act, 1952, meaning they fall under military discipline and courts martial. Section 9 provides that a member sentenced to ninety days or more of imprisonment is automatically treated as dismissed from the Force, and Section 12 empowers the capture of deserters with police assistance. Section 13 allows an appeal against a punishment order, first to a higher officer and, for Director General decisions, to the Federal Government itself, within thirty days.

Chapter II gives the Force customs-like powers: Section 14 lets its officers exercise powers delegated to them under the Customs Act, 1969 for anti-smuggling work in the coastal areas of Sindh and Balochistan (outside port limits), and also gives officers and junior commissioned officers the powers of a police station's officer in charge under the Police Act, 1861 and the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898. Section 15 requires seized goods to be handled under the Customs Act's disposal procedures. Section 16 lets the government place the Force, in whole or part, under the command of the Chief of Staff of the Pakistan Army for military operations, while it remains governed by this Act. Section 17 shields officials from lawsuits for good-faith actions, and Section 18 allows rules and regulations to be made for running the Force. The Second and Third Schedules set out the recruiting oath and affirmation new members must sign, including a Roman Urdu translation.