Law:

Section:

(a) Constitution of Pakistan, Art. 69 (2)-Whether an Ordinance expiring under Clause (2) can be re-enacted by a fresh Ordinance-Question raised but not determined. (b) Security of Pakistan Act (XXXV of 1952), S. 12­Corflicts with Art. 8, Constitution of Pakistan-Section unen­forceable after coming into operation of Constitution. Held, that section 12, Security of Pakistan Act (XXXV of 1952), conflicts with Article 8 of the Constitution which guarantees to every citizen freedom of speech and expression subject to reasonable restrictions stated in the Article. Therefore, the section so far as it permits the Government to prohibit the publication of a newspaper for any reason whatsoever, has, after the Constitution, become unenforceable and accordingly action under that section could not be taken in a case where the objectionable publication was alleged to be "defamatory" and trespassing "beyond the limits of legitimate comments". The powers of, the Central Government, when it acts under section 12, are circumscribed by no qualifications, limitations or conditions except that it should. "consider it necessary or expedient to make the order". On this construc­tion, the section clearly comes in conflict with Article 8. The Security of Pakistan Act is a pre-Constitution Act, having been passed in May 1952 when no basic rights had been guaranteed by the Constitution and the Government had absolute authority to restrict the freedom of speech grid expres­sion by securing legislation to enable it to act in the manner it considered expedient. After the Constitution, however, these powers no longer exist and neither the legislature nor the Government can impose any restriction on freedom of speech [pnd3e9xpression except for the purposes mentioned in Article.8. JUDGMENT MUHAMMAD MUNIR, C. J.---This , petition by Begum Zebunnissa Hamidullah for an appropriate order under Article 22 of the Constitution challenges the validity of an order of the Central Government, made under paragraph (c) of the clause (i) of subsection (1) of section 12 of the Security of Pakistan Act (XXXV of 1952) prohibiting for a period of six months the publication of "The Mirror", an illustrated…

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