PESHAWAR: A convicted criminal has moved the Peshawar High Court, challenging changes to the federal narcotics law, which prohibited allowing remission, probation and release to convicts on parole in narcotics cases.

Iqbal Shah, imprisoned at the Central Prison of Haripur, filed a petition requesting the court to declare unconstitutional and against the basic human rights provision of section 9(A)(1) and (2) introduced through the Control of Narcotics Substance (Amendment) Act, 2022.

He sought declaration of the court to the effect that the petitioner was entitled for remissions in his sentence and that refusal of remissions including self-earned and labour as illegal and unlawful.

The petition, filed through advocate Fawad Afzal Safi, includes as respondents the federal and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments through respective law secretaries, attorney general for Pakistan, KP advocate general, KP home secretary, its inspector general of police, and the superintendent of the Haripur Central Prison.

Recent law changes ended remission, probation in drug cases

The petitioner, a resident of Nowshera district, said that he was arrested in connection with an FIR registered at Anti-Narcotics Force Police Station, Lahore, on Aug 17, 2023, under different provisions of the Control of Narcotics Substance Act, 1997.

He said that on conclusion of trial he was convicted by the trial court in Lahore on April 21, 2025, and was sentenced to nine years imprisonment with fine of Rs100,000.

The petitioner added that the benefit of Section 382-B of the Code of Criminal procedure was also extended to him under which his period of detention in prison to his conviction would be counted in his prison term.

He said that his appeal was also rejected by the Lahore High Court on Sep 18, 2025.

The petitioner claimed that during his period inside the prison, his conduct was very good and he earned some labor and other remissions, but he was kept deprived of the same by the respondents because of the CNS (Amendment) Act, 2022.

He referred to the said amendments, saying, “Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law or prison rules for the time being in force, no remissions in any sentence shall be allowed to a person, who is convicted under this Act: Provided that in case of a juvenile or female convicted and sentenced for an offence under this Act, remission, may be granted as deemed appropriate by the Federal Government.”

The petitioner said that neither probation in any sentence shall be allowed nor any accused convicted under the Act shall be released on parole except juvenile or female accused, who can be released on probation on parole as per relevant laws and rules.

He contended that the modern justice system was based on reformative theory of punishment, to transform offenders into productive members of the society.

The petitioner said that the basic object of remission and probation to an offender was to move away an offender from purely punitive or retributive justice towards reformation, rehabilitation and reintegration into society.

He contended that the 2022 amendment Act had been passed in violation of Reformative Theory of Punishment.

The petitioner said after commission of an offence, the offenders including the petitioner didn’t cease to be a human being and thus, depriving them from remission and probation through changes in the law was unconstitutional.

He also contended that the amendments were discriminatory in nature, which violated Article 25 of the Constitution.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2026