SC to hear plea against eviction of Afghans

Court allows appeal challenging registrar office’s objections

ISLAMABAD:

The Supreme Court on Wednesday finally entertained a constitution petition seeking a restraining order against the forcible deportation of Afghan citizens.

The SC registrar’s office had returned the plea on the grounds that it failed to mention what questions of public importance in the present case were involved with the enforcement of any fundamental right guaranteed under the Constitution.

The appellants, including former PPP senator Farhatullah Babar and National Democratic Movement Chairman Moshin Dawar, through Advocate Umer Ijaz Gilani challenged the objections through an appeal.

“This appeal may very kindly be accepted and order dated 08.11.2023 of the assistant registrar returning the [constitution petition] as ‘Not Entertainable’ be kindly set aside with direction to entertain the [constitution petition] and after registration and allotment of number, the same be put up for hearing before the honourable court for [a] decision in accordance with [the] law," it read.

SC's Justice Yahya Afridi on Wednesday in his written order observed that the objections raised by the registrar’s office were "legal in nature" and propriety demanded that they should addressed by a court.
“Accordingly, this CM [civil miscellaneous] appeal is allowed and the office is directed to fix the matter for hearing before the court," the order read.

The petition was later allotted a number.

The petitioners' lawyer, Gilani, has moved an application seeking an early hearing of the matter.

Earlier this month, a petition was filed before the apex court seeking a restraining order against the forceful deportation of Afghan nationals from Pakistan.

In the petition, the former PPP senator and others sought a restraining order against the forcible deportation or harassment of anyone born in Pakistan and having a claim to birthright citizenship in accordance with Section 4 of the Citizenship Act, 1951, as well as the ruling of the Islamabad High Court in the 2021 case of Hafiz Hamdullah Saboor.

The petitioners' counsel contended that the "impugned directive" being undertaken by the "apex committee" of the caretaker cabinet "effectively amounted to a reversal of a 45-year-old Pakistani state policy of hospitality and leniency towards refugees, asylum-seekers and other migrants from the Afghan borders".

The plea argued that the federal government should be asked to permit 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.

The petitioners claimed that the government’s policy had failed to provide any mechanism for distinguishing between birthright citizens and illegal immigrants.

The federal government initiated a crackdown against "undocumented" Afghan nationals - essentially people seeking refuge in the country and awaiting legal formalities.

Since November 1, 2023, the state has kicked off a campaign to forcibly evict around 1.3 million such people under the garb of addressing the issue of "illegal migrants" on whom it has placed the burden of the country's worsening economic and security concerns

 

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