LHC summons official on offloaded student's plea

LAHORE:

The Lahore High Court (LHC) has summoned a deputy director of immigration in a contempt case filed by a student allegedly offloaded from a flight despite having secured admission to a foreign university.

Justice Asad Ali Bajwa issued the order while hearing the petition filed by Khurram Shehzad who contended that he had secured admission to a university in Cyprus and reached Allama Iqbal International Airport on May 11 to travel for his studies.

However, he was offloaded by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) despite having completed the required educational documentation, according to the petition. He stated that the immigration authorities had alleged that he did not possess a Bachelor of Arts degree.

The petitioner's counsel argued that the university had granted him admission on the basis of his intermediate qualification and the immigration authorities had no lawful authority to demand a degree from him.

The counsel submitted that the LHC had, through several judgments, restrained authorities from offloading passengers when their documents were complete.