ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the general issues pertaining to the suspension of fundamental rights and the exercise of the power of preventive detention during declared periods of emergency in the Indo-Pak-Bangladesh Subcontinent during the colonial and post-colonial periods. Fundamental rights are value-added rights; they are of a higher legal status than ordinary rights. One of the two most important principles for reducing the impact on the rights of individuals during emergency situations is the principle of non-derogation. It seems that the extra-constitutional emergency regime of General Musharraf in an attempt to distinguish itself from previous emergency regimes and martial law administrations decided to keep the fundamental rights operative despite keeping the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan in abeyance. The chapter discusses the definition of preventive detention, the necessity of the power of preventive detention, the abuse of the powers concerning preventive detention and the evolution of the powers relating to preventive detention in the Indo-Pak-Bangladesh Subcontinent.
