Salient Features Of Ehtram-e-Ramzan Law In Pakistan

Salient Features Of Ehtram-e-Ramzan Law In Pakistan

Pakistan has enacted the Ehtram-e-Ramzan Ordinance 1981, the purpose of  which is to provide measures for and observe the sanctity of the month of Ramazan.

The salient features of this law are as follows:

1. This Ordinance prohibits an individual from eating or drinking in public places during fasting hours. Under the Ordinance, no person – who according to the tenets of Islam is under an obligation to fast – shall eat, drink or smoke at public places during fasting hours.
2. It also prohibits hotel managers to serve during fasting hours.
3. Under the Ordinance, all cinema houses, theaters and similar establishments or institutions shall remain closed during the month of Ramazan from sunset to the expiration of three hours thereafter.
4. One who contravenes, will be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or with a fine, or both.
5. If any Magistrate, or the Chairman of a District Council or a Municipal Committee or a Town Committee, or the Mayor of a Municipal Corporation, or the Chairman or a member of a District Zakat and Ushr Committee, who has reason to believe that an offence punishable under the law has been carried out, may enter the public place and arrest such person and forward him to the concerned police station.
6. However, a few exemptions do apply in case of a canteen or kitchen maintained at a hospital for serving food to patients, a restaurant or canteen on the premises of a railway station, airport, seaport or bus stand or in a train or aircraft, a kitchen or dining car of a train or a kitchen or canteen meant for children on the premises of a primary school.

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