A Preliminary Note on the Genealogy of the Concept of Enemy Alien in Pakistan

Syed Sami Raza & Ghazala Rafi

Abstract
On July 9, 2014, parliament of Pakistan passed a stringent security law, the
Protection of Pakistan Act (Act No. X). The law focuses on enemy aliens
and the threat they pose to state‘s security. As it was passed and enforced,
the law did not generate much debate on the origin and historical value of
the legal concept of enemy alien. This article aims to dig up the genealogy
of the concept of enemy alien by highlighting a) its origin in the UK and
the US; b) its introduction by the British in colonial India; and later c) its
adoption by the state of Pakistan.

Keywords: Protection of Pakistan Act, enemy aliens,