PAKISTAN Law and Practice Contributed by: Abdul Muqtadir Khan, Syed Absar Rahat Rizvi, Hammad Saleem and Zair Zaman Khan, Khan & Arshad
Khan & Arshad 69/4, FCC Syed Maratib Ali Road Gulberg IV Lahore Pakistan Tel: +92 321 419 2777 Email: Muqtadir@khanandarshad.com Web: www.khanandarshad.com
1. Identifying Assets in the Jurisdiction 1.1 Options to Identify Another Party’s Asset Position Public Registers and Records Pakistan has no single public asset registry from which a party can comprehensively identify another person’s assets. Instead, information is dispersed across vari - ous public authorities and registries, and the extent of public access depends on the nature of the asset. Land is the primary asset lead. In Punjab, land records have been substantially dig - itised through the Punjab Land Records Authority (PLRA). A person may obtain a “Fard” (record-of- rights) through the PLRA’s online system or at an Arazi Record Centre for a named person. However, the tra - ditional Patwar Khana system continues to operate alongside the digitised regime, and certain records or transactions may still require verification through the local Patwari. The Punjab government has also recently introduced legislation providing for a green property certificate which would serve as valid title verification. However, the regime is yet to be made effective. The certifi - cate will only be issued at the request of the original owner of the property. In other provinces, land records remain largely maintained through the traditional rev - enue administration, with searches generally conduct - ed through the local Patwari or the relevant revenue authorities, making remote or centralised searches more difficult.
Vehicles, Corporate Assets and Financial Information
Motor vehicles are registered with the provincial Excise and Taxation Departments, while company shareholdings and directorships are searchable via the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) eServices/LEAP portal, which gives free basic status data and paid certified filings, including annual returns showing shareholders. Bank accounts, tax records and the State Bank’s credit bureau (eCIB) are not publicly accessible. They are protected by statute, including Section 216 of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 for tax records and the Protection of Economic Reforms Act, 1992 for foreign-currency accounts, and are reachable only by court order – for example, by production of a banker’s books under the Qanun-e- Shahadat Order, 1984. Asset Declarations of Senior Civil Servants A recent exception to the general position on public asset information concerns senior civil servants. Pur - suant to the Civil Servants (Amendment) Act, 2025, the declarations of assets and liabilities of civil serv - ants in BS-17 and above, together with those of their spouses and dependent children – including domes - tic and foreign assets and liabilities – are required to be digitally filed with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and are to be made publicly available through the FBR, in accordance with the prescribed rules. This constitutes a limited statutory public asset disclosure regime and does not amount to a general public asset registry.
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