Justice Bajwa states that a paper trail is now a “substantial safeguard” for the freedom of citizens
LAHORE:
Immigration authorities can no longer detain passengers on verbal orders alone, the Lahore High Court (LHC) has ruled, striking down the practice as a violation of fundamental rights.
The ruling delivers a sharp legal check to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) just days after it revealed the scale of its current dragnet: 66,154 travelers offloaded by 2025.
Presiding over the Multan bench, Justice Ali Zia Bajwa issued a two-page interim order stating that written justification for a travel ban is not a mere formality but a “substantial legal protection”.
During the hearing of a petition challenging such relief, the court pressed the state attorney for the specific reasons behind the action. The officer admitted that there was no written justification in the record.
Read: Government Panel to Investigate Reading of Travellers
Transparency and the right to redress depend on a paper trail, the court observed, warning that arbitrary restrictions on personal liberty violate principles of natural justice. “Any action curtailing personal liberty must have a clear legal basis,” Justice Bajwa wrote, ordering the authorities to provide the petitioner with a written explanation before the next hearing.
FIA Offloading Statistics
These legal restrictions land amid a massive enforcement effort. Testifying before the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Overseas Pakistanis earlier this week, the FIA’s director general, Riffat Mukhtar, defended the agency’s vigilance, citing the screening of over 66,000 passengers this year.
Broken down, the figures paint a picture of aggressive border control. Around 51,000 people were stopped due to the “questionable authenticity” of their documents covering work, tourist and Umrah visas.
Read more: 66,154 air travelers relieved this year, FIA tells NA organ
External diplomatic pressure appears to be driving this investigation. The director general noted that 56,000 Pakistani beggars had been deported from Saudi Arabia recently, a trend he identified as a primary trigger for the tighter screening. He further informed the committee that the United Arab Emirates had introduced visa restrictions, while illegal migration routes to Africa, Cambodia and Thailand were experiencing increased traffic.
Government investigation
Amid growing complaints that valid visa holders are being caught in this net, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has intervened. A high-level committee, headed by Federal Minister for Overseas Pakistanis Chaudhry Salik, is now looking into the issue.
The panel comprises representatives from the Ministry of External Affairs, NADRA and Pakistan Digital Authority and is tasked with standardizing verification processes to ensure that genuine travelers are not harassed.
