Safeguarding Diaspora Equity: The Jurisprudence of Mr. Justice Jawad Hassan and the Legislative Evolution of Overseas Property Rights in Pakistan

Abstract

The geographic constraints faced by Overseas Pakistanis render them uniquely susceptible to property expropriation, fraudulent conveyances, and the sheer attrition of protracted civil litigation. Historically, the state’s response was heavily reliant on administrative facilitation, a paradigm that proved structurally inadequate in the face of organized land syndicates exploiting loopholes in the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908. The Punjab Establishment of Special Courts (Overseas Pakistanis Property) Act, 2025 marks a move from executive discretion to specialized judicial enforcement. This article critiques Mr. Justice Jawad Hassan’s Lahore High Court judgment in Javed Masih v. Amar Javed (2026) and examines the structural innovations of the 2025 Act. It considers the theoretical tension between transnational capital and local extractive institutions, interrogates the constitutional harmonization of procedural affirmative action with the equality clause, and reviews the judiciary’s hardening stance on collateral civil attacks. This paper contextualizes Justice Jawad Hassan’s jurisprudence in the broader constitutional debates on due process and the separation of powers, and argues that the 2025 Act is a complex but necessary judicial stabilization of expatriate equity.