After two days on Friday the Supreme Court will decide maintainability of a plea seeking restraining orders against the present caretaker regime decision to deport illegal Afghan nationals.
Advocate Supreme Court Umer Ijaz Gilani has invoked jurisdiction of the top court in the matter on behalf of PPP senator Farhatullah Babar. A three-member bench of Justices Sardar Tariq Masood, Yahya Afridi and Ayesha Malik will take up the plea on December 01. Earlier the top court Registrar has returned the plea on the grounds that nothing has been mentioned to show public importance amid violation of fundamental rights. However, on Nov 20, Justice Yahya Afridi, during a chamber hearing, ordered to fix the appeal against the court registrar’s refusal to entertain the petition.
The petition was jointly moved on behalf of Farhatullah Babar, Senator Mushtaq Ahmed, Amina Masood Janjua, Mohsin Dawar, Mohammad Jibran Nasir, Syed Muaz Shah, Pastor Ghazala Parveen, Imaan Zainab Mazari, Ahmad Shabbar, Advocate Imran Shafiq, Luke Victor, Sijal Shafiq, and Rohail Kasi. They pleaded before the apex court to restrain the federal government and state institutions from detaining, deporting, or otherwise harassing anyone who possesses a PoR (proof of residence), ACC (Afghan Citizen Card), asylum-seeker application issued by UNHCR or pre-screening slip issued by its partners SHARP and SEHAR.
The petitioners sought court directives for federal government to stop from detaining, forcefully deporting, or otherwise harassing anyone born in Pakistan with a claim to birthright citizenship in accordance with Section 4 of the Citizenship Act, 1951, and the ruling of the Islamabad High Court in 2021 case of Hafiz Hamdullah Saboor.
The petitioners submitted the federal government should be directed to allow the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and its partner organisations to register, expedite the processing, and decide on all asylum-seeking applications filed by foreigners currently residing in Pakistan.
It contended that the federal government should also be directed to permit UNHCR and its partner organisations to register, expedite the processing, and decide on all asylum-seeking applications in Pakistan.
