Back to your answers

1. What this is

   • This brief was made by Wakeelnama Overseas from your answers. It is not legal advice, and no lawyer has reviewed it.

2. Your answers

   • Who holds or controls the property now? Not answered.
   • What paper do they rely on? Not answered.
   • Where is the property? Not answered.
   • When did you lose possession? Not answered.
   • What do you want? Not answered.
   • Do you live abroad more than 182 days a tax year and hold a Pakistani passport, CNIC, NICOP, POC or OPF card? Not answered.

3. The route

   • Power of attorney from abroad: give it narrow, cancel it safely
   • You need someone in Pakistan to act for you on property, or you want to cancel a power you gave.
   • You picked this route yourself.

4. What it rules out

   • Once your agent has partly used the power, cancelling it does not undo what was already done.
   • A cancellation does not bind your agent, or people dealing with them, until they know of it.

5. Steps

   • 1. You: Write the power for the one act you need, such as one sale or one case. An agent may do every lawful thing needed for that act, so name the act and the property exactly. (s188, Contract Act 1872, read 2026-10-26)
   • 2. Notary, court or Pakistan consul: Sign the power before a notary public, a court or judge, or a Pakistan consul, so it can be used to present papers for registration. (s33(1)(c), Registration Act 1908, read 2026-10-28)
   • 3. Pakistani mission: Have the power attested by a Pakistani mission. You can do it online through NADRA's Digital Power of Attorney from where you live, even with no mission in your country: make an account, upload the signed power and the fingerprints of you and two witnesses, pay by card, then a consular officer interviews you by video. Pick the right mission when you apply, or the application can be rejected. Your mission's own page gives its walk-in steps and fee. (Application Submission Guidelines, Video Interview, NADRA, Digital Power of Attorney, read 2026-11-13) Fee: US$36 for up to 5 people giving the power, then US$6 more for each extra person, up to US$126 for 20. (Application Fees).
   • 4. Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Send the attested power, with NADRA's digital receipt if you used the online service, to your attorney in Pakistan. Your attorney takes it in person, with their original CNIC, to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad or a camp office in Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar or Quetta for attestation. The Ministry says the power is valid for 120 days from the attestations, so do not let it sit. (Power of Attorney (Originating from Abroad), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Consular Services, Attestation of Documents, read 2026-11-13) Time: The Ministry says a power from abroad is valid for 120 days from the mission's attestation and the Ministry's re-attestation. (Power of Attorney (Originating from Abroad)).
   • 5. Stamp office: Once the power arrives in Pakistan, get it stamped within three months. (s18(1), Stamp Act 1899 (Pakistan Code), read 2026-10-28) Time: 3 months after it first reaches Pakistan. (s18(1)). Islamabad only.
   • 6. Stamp office: Once the power arrives in Pakistan, get it stamped within three months. (s18(1), Punjab Stamp Act 1899, read 2026-10-30) Time: 3 months after it first reaches Pakistan. (s18(1)). Punjab only.
   • 7. Stamp office: Pay stamp duty. A power for one transaction is Rs 1,000. (Schedule I, Article 48(b), Stamp Act 1899 (Pakistan Code), read 2026-10-28) Fee: Rs 1,000 for one transaction. (Schedule I, Article 48(b)). Islamabad only.
   • 8. Stamp office: Pay stamp duty. It depends on what the power allows: a power to sell for payment costs far more than a narrow one. (Schedule I, Article 48, Punjab Stamp Act 1899, read 2026-10-30) Fee: 3% of the District Collector's value for a power to sell for payment. Rs 100 for each person named where no other clause applies. (Schedule I, Article 48(b) and (c)). Punjab only.
   • 9. Sub-registrar: Ask the sub-registrar whether your power must be registered. (s17(1)(ba), Registration Act 1908, read 2026-10-28) Not confirmed.
   • 10. Sub-registrar: If it must be registered, present it within four months of its arrival in Pakistan. (s26(b), Registration Act 1908, read 2026-10-28) Time: 4 months after it arrives. (s26(b)).
   • 11. High Court: You can deposit the power, with the affidavit or declaration that verifies it, in the High Court for the area where it is kept. (s4(a), Powers-of-Attorney Act 1882, read 2026-10-28)
   • 12. You: You can cancel the power at any time before the agent has used it. (s203, Contract Act 1872, read 2026-10-26)
   • 13. You: If the agent has already used part of it, cancelling does not undo what was done. (s204, Contract Act 1872, read 2026-10-26)
   • 14. Your agent: Give your agent reasonable notice that you are cancelling. (s206, Contract Act 1872, read 2026-10-26)
   • 15. Registrar, buyers, banks: Tell everyone who may deal with the agent. The cancellation does not bind them until they know. (s208, Contract Act 1872, read 2026-10-26)
   • 16. Sub-registrar or High Court: Ask the office that registered or holds the power how to record your cancellation. Not confirmed.

6. Open points for your lawyer

   • Sub-registrar: This clause can be read to make registration compulsory for a power over property worth Rs 100 or more. We do not settle that reading. Ask a lawyer or the sub-registrar.
   • Sub-registrar or High Court: No text we read says how a cancellation is recorded with a sub-registrar or the High Court. Ask that office or a lawyer.
   • Cancelling a power does not bind people who deal with your attorney until they know of it. Tell them all.

7. Papers

   • A valid CNIC, NICOP or POC for you, the attorney and the witnesses, both sides
   • A scanned copy of the signed power, with your photo, signatures and thumb impressions of you and the witnesses
   • Fingerprints of you and two witnesses on NADRA's form
   • A credit or debit card, an email address, and a phone number and address in the country you live in

8. Fill in before you send

   • Your name
   • Phone or email
   • Property address
   • Khasra, plot or house number
   • District and tehsil
   • Who holds it, by name