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Pakistan's Cruel Laws Threaten Animal Lives
26 Nov
Summary
- Outdated colonial laws from 1890 fail to protect animal welfare.
- Court rulings affirm constitutional rights for animals and ecosystems.
- Animal confinement for amusement is legally considered torture.
Pakistan's legal framework for animal welfare, rooted in a colonial-era 1890 statute, is critically inadequate. This antique law fails to address modern challenges, leading to widespread institutional cruelty. Recent judicial pronouncements, however, have championed animal rights, interpreting constitutional guarantees of a healthy environment to include all living beings.
The courts have established that keeping animals in cages for human amusement constitutes torture. This progressive jurisprudence contradicts the outdated legal system, which implicitly permits negligent governance and the operation of abusive markets. Such disregard for non-human life impacts ecosystems and exacerbates climate change.
Urgent reform of the 1890 Act is necessary to align domestic law with international commitments and constitutional imperatives. Failure to modernize this legislation perpetuates cruelty, environmental disruption, and a national abdication of ecological stewardship.
