Extradition Lawyer in Islamabad: Islamabad courts and the Local Procedure

In Islamabad, the Extradition Act, 1972 provides for an inquiry before a designated first-class Magistrate, but the Federal Government makes the later surrender decision. Under section 7 as amended, the Secretary of the Division to which the Act’s business is allocated may order the inquiry; the signed order must identify the actual Magistrate and territorial basis. The Extradition (Amendment) Act, 2025 received presidential assent on 28 July 2025, was published in the Gazette on 1 August 2025, and came into force at once. There is no single statutory deadline for the whole process: the 24-hour, 15-day and two-month periods have different triggers.

Which Islamabad authority handles the inquiry?

Schedule II of the current Rules of Business allocates extradition and expulsions from Pakistan to the Interior and Narcotics Control Division. The IHC Division Bench in Haroon-ur-Rashid (2020) likewise identified the Interior Division as responsible for extradition matters under the Rules. Accordingly, the section 7 signatory is the Secretary of that Division. The statute does not name the Inquiry Magistrate in an individual file: obtain the signed order and verify its issuer, the designated Magistrate and the territorial basis.

Earlier IHC cases name an Additional Deputy Commissioner (General), ICT, as Inquiry Magistrate. That is historical practice only. Obtain the current section 7 order and verify the officer’s legal capacity and territorial assignment.

Institution	Role in an Islamabad-related case	Practical point
Secretary, Interior and Narcotics Control Division	May order an inquiry under amended section 7	Obtain the signed order and check its date.
Designated first-class Inquiry Magistrate	Conducts the section 8 inquiry and assesses whether a prima facie case exists	The section 7 order identifies the forum.
Federal Government	Considers the report and written statement, then decides surrender	A prima facie finding is not the final surrender warrant.
Islamabad High Court	Hears section 12 applications and applicable legality challenges	Section 12 and constitutional petitions are different routes.
District Courts Islamabad — East and West	Ordinary district and sessions courts in ICT	Both are listed at Judicial Complex, G-11/4; neither is automatically the extradition forum.

What should happen in the first 72 hours?

This is a practical action plan, not a special 72-hour deadline under the Act. Request the warrant, custody basis, case number and Inquiry Magistrate’s name. Constitution Article 10(2) generally requires production before a Magistrate within 24 hours of arrest, excluding necessary journey time. Article 10(3) excludes arrest or detention under a law providing for preventive detention, so counsel should check the actual custody basis and recorded times.

When	What the person or family should do	Why it matters locally
Immediately	Record arrest time/place, arresting agency and warrant. Request counsel and confirm detention location.	These details help identify territorial jurisdiction and the issuing authority.
During the first day	Obtain the section 7 order, formal requisition and, for a non-treaty State, the section 4 Gazette notification.	IHC case law treats the section 4 notification as a prerequisite.
Before the next inquiry date	Collect the foreign warrant/charge, authenticated evidence, translations and written response.	Sections 8–10 concern a prima facie case, not guilt.
As soon as detention orders are available	Record committal and arrest dates separately; calendar the section 12 point and any section 11 warrant.	The statutory clock in section 12 starts on committal, not simply on the first arrest or the start of the inquiry.

Does the Inquiry Magistrate decide guilt or surrender?

No. Sections 8–10 create a preliminary inquiry, not a criminal trial. The Magistrate assesses authenticated material and both sides’ submissions for a prima facie case; the Federal Government separately decides surrender. If the threshold fails, section 10(a) requires discharge; if met, section 10(b) requires a report and any written statement, followed by committal subject to bail. An inquiry report, committal order and later removal warrant have different effects.

What do Islamabad High Court decisions say about evidence?

In Muhammad Shahid v Federation of Pakistan, PLD 2018 Islamabad 258, an IHC Division Bench held that a section 4 Gazette notification is required for a non-treaty State. It treated the late notification in that case as curing the timing defect; it did not dispense with the notification requirement.

The later Division Bench in Haroon-ur-Rashid and another v Federation of Pakistan, PLD 2020 Islamabad 469 (18 August 2020; I.C.A. Nos. 224 and 225 of 2019), reviewed the single-judge order of 3 May 2019 in W.P. No. 1159 of 2017. That earlier order had directed the foreign investigating officer to attend and affidavit-makers to be available for cross-examination; the Division Bench set those blanket directions aside.

The Division Bench explained that sections 9(1)–(2) allow properly authenticated foreign documents to be considered without an automatic requirement for live testimony or cross-examination. However, in the US-request record before it, affidavits relaying information from an undercover source were hearsay and did not satisfy Article 9 of the US–Pakistan treaty. The court remanded the inquiry so further evidence could be produced. The practical rule is not ‘affidavits always suffice’ or ‘a foreign investigator must always attend’: check authentication, the deponent’s personal knowledge, the underlying source material, the applicable treaty’s evidential threshold and, for a non-treaty State, the section 4 Gazette direction. That ruling is treaty-specific and does not establish a treaty basis for any other State.

The reported Haroon proceedings show an Additional Attorney-General appearing for the Federation on instructions from FIA officials. That identifies the government-side representation in that case, not a standing extradition prosecutor office. Ask the case office which government lawyer and FIA officer are assigned to present the request documents in the current file.

How can an inquiry or custody decision be challenged?

The route depends on the order challenged. The Act sets no general appeal period for every inquiry report. IHC has considered Article 199 constitutional petitions for legal or jurisdictional defects, but supervisory review is not a new trial or automatic re-hearing of facts; the court considers the alleged error and whether another adequate remedy exists.

After the Constitution (Twenty-seventh Amendment) Act, 2025, the constitutional-bench framework and the live IHC registry directions must be checked before filing an Article 199 petition. Article 175F(1)(c) provides that the Federal Constitutional Court may hear an appeal from an Article 199 judgment or order only if it grants leave to appeal; that is not an automatic appeal. A section 12 application is separate and requires reasonable notice to the Federal Government; a section 19 bail request does not decide the legality of surrender.

Which custody deadlines matter in Islamabad?

Provision	Trigger and period	What it does — and does not — mean
Constitution, Article 10(2)	Generally within 24 hours of arrest, excluding necessary journey time	A production safeguard, not an inquiry-completion deadline.
Extradition Act, section 11	At least 15 days must expire after the person is taken into custody under the custody-and-removal warrant before delivery	A minimum wait before delivery, not an appeal deadline.
Extradition Act, section 12	If the person has not been conveyed out of Pakistan within two months after committal to await surrender	Apply to the High Court after reasonable notice to the Federal Government. Discharge is discretionary unless sufficient cause is shown.
Extradition Act, section 19	No fixed number of days in section 19	The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 bail rules apply as if the person were accused of the offence in Pakistan; for bail, the Magistrate before whom the person is brought has, as far as may be, the powers and jurisdiction of a Court of Session.

In Mujahid Pervez v Federation of Pakistan through Ministry of Interior, PLD 2020 Islamabad 357 (15 April 2020), the IHC granted conditional bail to a detainee held about four and a half years while transfer was delayed. He was held at Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi, in that case only; this does not establish a routine facility or automatic release for every delay. Preserve the committal date, removal warrant, delay correspondence and proof of reasonable notice, and assess section 12 and bail separately.

Where does an airport arrest belong?

A narrow statutory exception matters here. Section 18 covers an alleged offence committed aboard a vessel on the high seas or an aircraft outside Pakistan and its territorial waters when that vessel or aircraft arrives at a Pakistani port or aerodrome with the fugitive offender on board. In that specific situation, the Federal Government and any Magistrate having jurisdiction in that port or aerodrome may exercise the Act’s powers. An airport arrest alone does not establish that section 18 applies; check where the alleged offence occurred and the arrival facts.

Do not infer jurisdiction from the airport’s name. Section 7 turns on the designated Magistrate’s territorial limits, not the wording on a boarding pass or the airport’s common name. If arrested at Islamabad International Airport, ask the FIA or police for the exact police station, arrest record, custody order and authority named in the warrant, then verify the territorial basis of the section 7 appointment. The airport name alone does not prove that an ICT Inquiry Magistrate is the proper forum.

Do not assume an inquiry belongs in District Courts East or West: the section 7 designation and territorial basis control. The official district portal lists general case-status and virtual/e-court facilities, but it does not establish that an extradition inquiry will be heard remotely or that an extradition-specific duty-lawyer or interpreter scheme is available. Ask the case office and detention authority in writing about lawyer access, family visits, interpreter arrangements and whether the hearing is in person; ask that the answer be recorded.

What should the family or overseas lawyer prepare?

Passport, identity documents and proof of the name/date of birth used in the requesting State.
Arrest warrant, section 7 order, formal requisition, any section 4 Gazette notification, inquiry report, committal order and section 11 warrant.
Foreign charge or conviction, evidence connecting the person to the offence, authentication certificates, translations and the treaty/Gazette instrument relied on.
A dated timeline of arrest, first production, hearings, committal, bail applications, federal orders and transfer correspondence.
Any section 10(b)(ii) written statement for the Federal Government, with proof of filing.
If needed, request an interpreter in writing and ask that the request and ruling be recorded; do not assume automatic provision.

A Red Notice or other international alert is not, by itself, a formal extradition requisition. Check the actual section 3 treaty-State declaration or section 4 Gazette direction and its scope; see Extradition from Pakistan for the country-wide procedure.

For refusal grounds, see the Pakistan remedies guide. An INTERPOL alert is not a formal requisition; see Red Notice limits. Removal/deportation is a different route; see extradition versus deportation.

Hypothetical example: why the order dates matter

Suppose someone is arrested in ICT on a request from a State with no applicable treaty. Obtain the section 7 order and section 4 Gazette notification, compare their dates and scope, and check authentication and prima facie evidence. Record any committal date separately; after two months without transfer, consider section 12 after reasonable notice. This is a checklist, not a prediction.

Questions families often ask

Does a Red Notice itself authorise extradition?

No. An alert is not, by itself, the section 6 requisition, the section 7 inquiry order or the federal surrender warrant. The actual documents and legal basis must be identified.

Is there a fixed deadline for the Islamabad inquiry to finish?

The Extradition Act does not set one general completion period for every inquiry. A court may impose a case-specific direction, but a deadline in another case should not be treated as a universal statutory limit.

Does two months in custody mean automatic release?

No. Section 12 measures two months from committal to await surrender, requires reasonable notice to the Federal Government, and allows the High Court to order discharge unless sufficient cause is shown.

Must the foreign investigating officer always attend in person?

No blanket rule applies. The IHC Division Bench in PLD 2020 Islamabad 469 rejected a universal attendance/cross-examination requirement, while also examining whether the actual evidence was sufficient under the governing treaty and Pakistani law.

A case-specific consultation with qualified counsel in Pakistan can help identify the current order, competent forum and deadline triggers. Request a consultation.