21/11/2025
Maintenance of parents in Pakistan is primarily rooted in Islamic law and moral/cultural obligations, although recent legal developments have sought to provide a statutory framework and judicial remedy.
⚖️ Legal Framework for Parental Maintenance
While there is no single, dedicated federal law exclusively for the maintenance of parents, the obligation is enforced through various means:
1. Islamic Personal Law: The fundamental obligation is derived from the injunctions of the Holy Quran and Sunnah, which repeatedly emphasize kindness and good treatment towards parents, especially in old age. Islamic jurisprudence generally obligates children in easy circumstances to maintain their poor/needy parents who are unable to maintain themselves.
2. Statutory Proposals/Acts:
o The Maintenance and Welfare of Old Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2019 (A Bill): This proposed legislation (introduced in the Senate) aims to provide a comprehensive framework, including the establishment of a commission and clear rights for old parents to maintenance and welfare.
o Proposed Insertion of Section 9-A in MFLO: The Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan previously recommended inserting a new Section 9-A into the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance, 1961 (MFLO), explicitly providing that a parent unable to maintain themselves is entitled to claim maintenance from their non-minor children. This highlights the recognition of the legal lacuna.
o Protection of Parents Ordinance/Act: Laws have been introduced at the provincial level (or proposed federally) to prevent the eviction or expulsion of parents from houses owned or possessed by their children and to provide remedies against abuse.
In the absence of a uniform, specific federal law like the MFLO's provision for wives and children (Section 9), the primary recourse for parents until recently has been based on Islamic principles applied through the courts.
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Apex and Superior Court Observations
The superior courts of Pakistan, particularly the High Courts (which often reflect judicial thinking that may reach the Supreme Court), have made significant observations relating to the maintainability of parental maintenance claims:
• Jurisdiction of Family Courts: A recent, significant observation by the Lahore High Court (LHC) explicitly affirmed that dependent parents have the right to file maintenance suits against their children before Family Courts under the Family Courts Act, 1964.
o Basis: The court held that the term "maintenance" in the Family Courts Act is broad enough to include claims by parents, and it is rooted in the Islamic legal and moral obligation for children in easy circumstances to maintain their poor parents (referencing principles like those in D.F. Mulla's Principles of Muhammadan Law).
o Limitation on Penal Provisions: Crucially, the LHC clarified that the specific penal provision under Section 17-A of the Family Courts Act—which allows a court to strike off the defense of a respondent for non-payment of interim maintenance—applies exclusively to maintenance cases filed by wives or children, not parents. This means while the court can grant interim maintenance to parents, the coercive measure of striking off the defense is unavailable.
The Lahore High Court (LHC) says that dependent parents have the right to file maintenance suits against their children before family courts, ruling that such cases fall within the courts’ jurisdiction under the Family Courts Act, 1964.
Justice Raheel Kamran issued a detailed judgment on a petition filed by one Azhar Ijaz Khawaja who had challenged the orders of a family court of Model Town-Lahore and an additional district & sessions judge, directing him to pay monthly maintenance to his mother, Riffatun Nissa.
The family court had ordered Khawaja and his other three brothers to pay Rs5,000 per month as interim maintenance to their mother by the 14th day of each month. When the payments were not made, the family court struck off their defence and decreed the suit under Section 17-A of the Family Courts Act.
