Relief: IHC stays govt order to deport Pak-Turk school staff

Earlier decision by single bench suspended, respondents given fortnight to file reply

ISLAMABAD: A larger bench of the Islamabad High Court on Wednesday suspended an earlier decision of the court which dismissed the Pak Turk Foundation’s petition challenging the expulsion of its teachers.

Last month, the interior ministry had directed all expatriate staff, teachers, their family members, including children enrolled in Pakistan, to leave the country before November 20. Since then, the decision has been challenged before different courts in the country.

When the Pak-Turk Educational Foundation first challenged the ministry’s order, a single bench of the IHC had dismissed a petition. In its detailed judgement released earlier this week, Justice Aamer Farooq explained through several judgments, including one of his own passed in the case of three Filipino missionary workers of the Islamabad Convent School that “the permission to enter or remain in the country is the sole prerogative of any sovereign state”.

Similarly, Justice Farooq stated that permission, once granted, can be revoked. In the judgment, he stated that “leave to foreigners to stay in Pakistan is in the nature of concession/privilege and cannot be termed as a right to remain in the country.”

While hearing an intra-court appeal on the earlier decision on Wednesday, the division bench comprising Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb suspended the order. They further directed the respondents to file their comments within a fortnight.

Alamgir Khan, the Chairman of Pak-Turk Educational Foundation (Guarantee) Limited, through his counsel Babar Sattar, had challenged the decision and moved the court to prevent the government from taking adverse action against the expatriate staff of the foundation.

Sattar argued that the MoI’s decision was based on extraneous political considerations, and in doing so, failed to apply their own judgement and accord due consideration to the merits of the case.  Referring to Justice Farooq’s detailed judgement, Sattar said that while it relies on past precedents, it did not appreciate the distinctions between the cases and the subject matter of their appeal.

Sattar said that the decision to deport expatriates along with their families was made to gain political traction. But in doing so, he argued, the respondents blatantly disregarded legal provisions and processes for establishing the writ and rule of law in the country.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 8^th, 2016.