President Trump invoked rising crime as a reason to deploy the federal security apparatus in several US cities, and the recent anticipated attack on Iran by the West was also being shown by the media through the prism of street protests in Iran. These happenings are not random. The internal and external affairs of a state are intertwined and remain inseparable. In this context, the policing function becomes central to the very existence of a state.
Pakistan, a country of over 250 million people, with its significant geostrategic location, is no exception to this structural architecture of modern states. Article 4 of the Constitution of Pakistan requires everything done by the state to be done in accordance with law. The 'law' on police and policing, however, remains archaic and does not respond adequately to the police and policing requirements. Besides, imperatives of crime control are often confounded with those of public order: while crime control requires better prevention and detection of crime, public order requires dealing with riots and social contestation, which germinate politically. The Police Order, 2002, which is applicable to the Punjab, has been amended through the Police Order (Second Amendment) Act, 2025 (notified on 5th January, 2026), to address the legal gaps in the law of public order and riot management. The instant write-up will summarize the latest amendment to the police law.
The Police Order (Second Amendment) Act, 2025, has the following features:
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