RIGHT TO LIFE

“Human Rights refers to those rights of a Man which are inalienable and which are
assigned to him by virtue of being a human personality.  These rights are universal
and are based on inherent dignity of human beings.  These rights are considered to
be above all the national or legal consideration of world and are same for all
human beings irrespective of their CLASS CREED or COLOUR.”
Fundamental Rights enshrined in 1973 constitution in fact, reflect what has been
provided in Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Article 3, Universal Declaration of Human Rights:-
Everyone has right to life, liberty and security of person.
Article 9, Constitution of Pakistan 1973.
No person shall be deprived of life, or liberty, save in accordance with law.
Ingredients: No Person shall;
i. be deprived of life, or
ii. be deprived of liberty.
Save in accordance with law.
‘Deprive’ means to take away, dispossess, injure or destroy.  Deprivation is not
only that of life, but of whatsoever.  God has gifted to everyone with life for its
growth and enjoyment, has been prohibited by this Article.
Right to life is not restricted to physical life but is something much more than
physical survival.  It includes, to live with dignity, to have the necessities of life
and facilities for reading, writing and expressing oneself.
Article 9 provides that no person shall be deprived of life or liberty save in
accordance with law.  The word ‘life’ being very significant as it covers all the
facts of human existence.  It odes not mean nor can’t be restricted only to the
vegetative or animal life or mere existence from conception to death.  Life includes
all such amenities and facilities which a person born in a country is entitled to
enjoy with dignity legally and constitutionally.
SHELA ZIA AND OTHERS VS. WAPDA
P.L.D. 1994 S.C. 963
Environmental pollution caused by electromagnetic radiation of high voltage
transmission lines of electricity poses a serious health hazard to the quality of life
or a large number of people and is therefore, violative of the right to life and
human dignity guaranteed by Articles 9 and 14 of the Constitution, 1973.
The petitioners protested to WAPDA against the construction of a grid station in
the green-belt area of a residential sector of Islamabad on the ground that the
electromagnetic field of high voltage transmission lines of the grid station posed a
serious health hazard to the residents of the area, particularly the children and the
infirms besides damaging the greenbelt and affecting the environment.  On the
failure of WAPDA to take any positive action, a letter was sent by the petitioners
to the Supreme Court.  The letter raised two legal questions, first, whether any
Government agency has a right to endanger the life of citizens by its actions
without their consent and second whether zoning laws vest rights in citizens which
cannot be withdrawn or altered without the citizens consent.  The Supreme Court
examined a number of scientists and experts.  The trend of their evidence was that
there was likelihood of adverse effects of electromagnetic fields on human health
though the evidence was inconclusive.  The Supreme Court with the consent of
both the parties appointed a commission to examine the complaint and suggest any
alteration which may be economically made in the construction and location of the
grid station.  The Court further directed that the Government should establish an
Authority manned by internationally known and recognized scientists having no
bias and prejudice whose opinion should be obtained before any new grid station
was allowed to be meantime prior to any grid station or transmission line, issue a
public notice in mnewspapers, radio and television inviting objections and finalize
the plan after considering the objections. This procedure would continue till such
time the Government constituted the Authority. The Supreme Court found
jurisdiction under Article 184(3) of the Constitution holding that electromagnetic
radiation adversely affected the health of citizen in general impinging upon their
right to life, and human dignity guaranteed by Articles 9 and 14 of the constitution,
1973.
The Supreme Court on Particular points held that:-
i) The issue raised involves the welfare and safety of the citizens because the
network of high tension wires is spread throughout the country. A method should
be devised to strike balance between economic progress and the possible health
hazards.
ii) The Government should establish an authority manned by internationally know
and recognized scientists having no bias and prejudice whose opinion should be
obtained before any new grid station is allowed to be constructed. Such
commission should also examine the existing grid stations and the distribution
lines from the point of views of health hazards and environmental pollution.
iii) The word “Life” uses in Article 9 of the Constitution, 1973 covers all facets of
human existence. “Life” cannot be restricted to vegetative or animal life or mere
existence life includes all amenities and facilities which a person, born in a free
country, is entitled to enjoy with dignity.
iiii) The fundamental right to preserve and protect the dignity of man under Article
14 is unparalleled and could be found only in few constitution of the world.
v) Where quality of life is adversely affected and health hazards are created
affecting a large number of people, the Supreme Court has power to stop the
functioning of units that create pollution and environmental degradation.
Saleem AkhtarJ.
Article 9 of the Constitution provides that no person shall be deprived of life or
liberty save in accordance with law.  The word ‘life’ is very significant as it covers
all facets of human existence.  The word ‘life’ has not been defined in the
Constitution but it does not mean nor can it be restricted only to the vegetative or
animal life or mere existence from conception to death.  Life includes all such
amenities and facilities which a person born in a free country is entitled to enjoy
with dignity, legally and constitutionally. For the purposes of present controversy
suffice to say that a person is entitled to protection of law from being exposed to
hazards of electromagnetic fields or any other such hazards which may be due to
installation and construction of any grid station, any factory, power station or such
like installations.  Under the common law a person whose right of easement,
property or health is adversely affected by any act of omission or commission of a
third person in the neighborhood or at a far off place, he is entitled to seek an
injunction and also claim damages, but the constitutional rights are higher than the
legal rights conferred by law be it municipal law or the common law.  Such a
danger as depicted, the possibility of which cannot be excluded, is bound to affect
a large number of people who may suffer from it unknowingly because of lack of
awareness, information and education and also because such sufferance is silent
and fatal and most of the people who would be residing near, under or at a
dangerous distance of the grid station or such installation do not know that they are
facing any risk or are likely to suffer by such risk.  Therefore, Article 184 can be
invoked because a large number of citizens throughout the country cannot make
such representation and may not like to make it due to ignorance, poverty and
disability.  Only some conscientious citizens aware of their rights and the
possibility of danger come forward and this has happened so in the present case.

CONCEPT OF HUMAN
RIGHTS IN ISLAM.
About honouring the sons of Adam, it was said that man was honoured by reason,
speech, discernment, writing, foodly form, upright statures management of the
affairs of this life and the hereafter, and, also by controlling whatever is in the
Earth and subjecting if to his food.  It was also said that all creatures pick up their
food by mouth except man.
Honouring human beings with reason and discernment came coupled with and
explained by Qur’anic verse:
“We have honoured the sons of Adam, provided them with transport on land and
sea, given them for sustenance things food and pure, and conferred on them special
favours, above a great part of our creation.” (17, al-Isra, 70).
Honouring of man (takrim-al-insan) covers his preference to other created things.
There are other cretu4res like the angels, the jinn, the plants and the animals.  An
argument about which was highest in status before God: human beings or angels?
God’s preference of Man over the Angels, especially the verse that relates how the
angels feel prostrate before Adam and about their ignorance of the names taught to
Adam by God.

The verse means that God created Adam and a ‘maltitude’ of other creatures
besides him and preferred him over all that multitude of other creatures.  Man
alone, among all other creatures mentioned in the Qur’an has a civilization
dimension.  Man is the maker of civilization.  This dimension in the human being
is vital in this context, as it is the dimension which establishes the concept of
human rights.  Behold! We said to the Angels, “fall prostrate before Adam.” (91-
Isra).

The Right to Life and its enjoyment.

In talking about human rights, we have to note that the word ‘haqq’ in modern
Arabic discourse is a translation of French word ‘droit’ and the English word
‘right’.  And the definite term al-haqq is used to mean God.  Among the most
important considerations is that inter-connection in meaning between ‘alhaqq’
(right) and ‘al-wajib (duty), Arabic haq meaning right, is interconnected in its
meaning with wajib / duty.  We find the concepts of right and duty overlapping in
Arabic language.  What is right for a person is a duty due to him.  The ‘rights of
God’ for instance, are the duties due to Him in the way of worship and obedience,
etc. Similarly, the ‘rights of man’ are the duties due to him in the forms of
‘honouring’.  It can be said that the rights of man in Islam are all material and
moral duties due to him, in accordance with God’s honouring and favouring him
overall his creation.
There are two types of rights.  These are general rights, which are for all human
beings, and special rights, which are for certain categories of people, like the rights
of the weak and oppressed, the rights of women, the rights of non-muslims in
Muslim Society etc.

The Rights of Man in General

The Right to Life
From the Islamic perspective, life is a gift from God to man, so it is his right: ‘It is
He who gave you life, will cause you to die, and will again give you life’ (22, al-
Hajj, 66).  God honoured man by breathing into him some of His spirit and gave
him the faculty of hearing, sight and feelings:
He Who has made everything which He has created most comely.  He began the
creation of man with [nothing more than] clay, and made his progeny from a
quintessence of despised fluid; then he fashioned him in due proportion, and
breathed into him of His spirit (ruh).  And He gave you [the faculties of] hearing
and sight and feeling [understanding] (32, al-Dajda, 7-9).
Therefore, man’s life is his own right, which he has to protect physically and
psychologically.  No one gas the right to harm man in body or soul.  It is for that
reason that God prohibited suicide, irrespective of circumstances: ‘Do not kill
yourselves, for Allah has been most merciful to you.  If any do that in rancour and
injustice, soon We shall cast them into fire’(4,al-Nisa, 29-30.  God also prohibited
the killing of any human soul except for a just cause: ‘Do not take a life, which
Allah made sacred, except by right (illa bi-l-haqq).  And if anyone is slain
wrongfully, we have given his heir authority to demand retribution, but let him not
exceed in the matter of taking life’ (17, al-Isra, 33).  The killing of prisoners of war
and the mutilation of dead bodies was also prohibited.  In pre-Islamic Arabia some
people killed their children if they could not provide for them: ‘Do not kill your
children for fear of hunger.  We shall provide for them: ‘Do not kill your children
for fear of hunger.  We shall provide sustenance for them as well as for you.
Truly, killing them is a great sin’ (17, al-Isra 31).  God also prohibited female
infanticide, which some pre-Islamic Arabs did for fear of shame: ‘When the female
(infant), buried alive, is questioned, for what crime was she killed? (81, Al-Tawkir,
8-9).  In addition, He prohibited putting an end to the life of the foetus (abortion).
Islamic shari’ah considers abortion as premeditated murder, deserving the death
penalty.  God also prohibited execution of the death sentence on a pregnant woman
until she delivers her baby, because the foetus’s right to life should be considered
first.  As a general rule:
If anyone slays a persons, unless it be for murder or for spreading corruption in the
land, it is as though he has a all who people.  And if anyone saves a life, it is as
though he has saved the lives of all people (5, al-Maidah, 32).
The punishment which specifies the execution of the criminal was greatly
alleviated by Islam to a degree of suspending the punishment when there is doubt
around the case. The Hadith says, ‘Avoid the hudud penalties in doubtful cases.’

The Right to Enjoy Life

God granted life to the human being to live and to enjoy.  He subjugated to the
human being whatever is in it for his enjoyment and the fulfillment of his needs,
except what may harm him, or cause harm to other creatures, animate or inanimate.
The Qur’an terms what people are allowed to enjoy as ‘the good things’, an
expression which recurs often in various verses.  This covers all the permitted
things, which are not prohibited by God.  They are the opposite of ‘the impure’,
which are prohibited.  Here are some of the many verses which deal with this
subject: ‘They ask you what [food] is lawful to them.  Say, lawful to you are [all]
things good and pure’ (5, al-Maidah, 4); ‘O you who believe! Do not make
unlawful the good things which Allah has made lawful for you’ (5, al-Maidah, 87);
‘Say, who has forbidden the beauty of Allah which, He has produced for His
worshipers, and the things clean and pure [which he has provided] for sustenance?
(7, Al A’raf, 32); ‘O you who believe! Give of the good things which you have
[honourably] earned, and of the fruits of the earth which We have produced for
you’ (2, al-Baqarah, 267); ‘And [He] made for you out of [your mates and
companions] sons and daughters and grandchildren, and provided for you
sustenance of the best’ (16, al-Nahl, 72).
Enjoying spouses, children and grandchildren, which is family life, is, like
enjoying the ‘things good and pure’, a right of man, exactly like enjoying his good
form and all that adds to its glamour: ‘And He has given you shape and made your
shapes beautiful, and has provided for you sustenance of things pure and good’
(40, Ghafir, 64).  Also, ‘We gave them for sustenance things good and pure’ (45,
al-Jathiyah, 16).
Plz feel free to ask any question .
Stay home , stay safe.
Human Rights and Fundamental Rights .

Topic: Define Law. Explain FOUR Kinds of Law.

The definition of word Law is the Most discussed question in jurisprudence. The
term ‘Law’ may be defined from the point of view of the theologian, the historian,
the sociologist, the philosopher, the political scientist, or the lawyer.  Law may be
defined firstly by its basis in nature, reason, religion or ethics, secondly, by its
source, in Custom, precedent, or legislation, thirdly, by its effects on the life of the
society, fourthly, by the method of its formal expression or authoritative
application; fifthly, by the ends that if seems to achieve.

Definition of Law:

Salmond defined Law as “the body of Principles recognized and applied by the
State in the administration of Justice.”

Explanation:
- Body of Principles: Set of Rules.

- Recognized: Passed by competent authority, Parliament, President or Governor.

- Applied: enforce.
-State: States is a legal person  State runs according to Constitution and
Government is only an instrument.

Austin defines Law as “Law is the aggregate of rules set by men as Politically
Superior, or sovereign, to men as politically subject.” Law is the Command of the
Sovereign.  It imposes a duty and is backed by sanction.  Command, duty and
sanction are the three elements of Law.

KINDS OF LAW:

1. Imperative Law:
According to Salmond: “Imperative law means a rule which prescribes a general
course of action imposed by some authority which enforces it by superior power
either by physical force or any other form of compulsion.”  The chief advocate of
imperative law is Austin who defines law as a command which obliges a person or
persons to a course of conduct.
It is in the very nature of law to be imperative, otherwise it is not law but a rule
which may or may not be obeyed.  Imperative laws have been classified with
reference to the authority from which they proceed.
The characteristic of imperative law is that it should be enforced by some
authority.  The observance of law must not depend upon the pleasure of the people.
Law has to be enforced by the machinery of the State.  The source of law is not
consent, custom or reason but the strength of the State.
2. Customary Law
Customary law means such rules of custom as are habitually being followed by the
majority of persons, subject to them since a long time in the past and are expected
to be followed in the future as well in the belief of their binding nature.  “Such
laws derive their force from the long course of past conduct resulting in the same
uniformity of action in given set circumstances.” To be brief customary law is
based on reasonable well-recognised customs which have stood the test of time.
Custom should not, however, be understood to be the same as customary law.
Custom itself is not the law.  It is merely a source of law.  Only such customs
acquire the force of law as are recognized and enforced by the Courts.

3. Conventional Law
According to Salmond, conventional law means “any rules or system of rules
agreed upon by persons for the regulation of their conduct towards each other.”  It
is law for the parties whose subscribe to it.  Examples of conventional law are the
laws of cricket or any other game, rules and regulation of a club or any other
voluntary society.

4. International Law
According to Salmon, International law as “those rules which govern sovereign
States in their relations and conduct towards each other.”  Oppenheim, Wheaton
and Hall hold the view that international law is law proper.  The law is given by
the body of nations; the rules are based either on customs or on agreements of the
States; and consent of the international community is the sanction behind their
enforcement.  Their view is that if there is no international machinery for the
enforcement of such laws, this is a matter of mere detail, and does not bereave the
international rules of their legal character.
Plz feel free to ask any question.

Stay home, stay safe. Prays.

Hassan Javed Malik.

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