Emphasizing that citizens’ right to travel had been protected by law, and that they could not be barred from travelling, the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday directed the director FIA to submit a detailed report on the reasons for offloading passengers from planes at the next hearing, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
Justice Farooq Haider of the LHC heard the petitions filed by a citizen named Shazim Ali and others against offloading citizens from planes and barring them from travelling abroad.
The judge remarked that people felt disillusioned when they were offloaded despite the fact that they possessed passports and had been issued visas. “We need to solve this problem,” he asserted.
He also said that there was a need to prevent such incidents which brought bad name to the country.
Director FIA Lahore Ali Zia informed the court about the reasons which led to the offloading of passengers.
Addressing the FIA director, the judge said that it was not the FIA’s job to issue visas to citizens. “Similarly, it is not your headache to see to it whether the students have valid degrees. It is the HEC, which has to look into it,” he said, and added, “Your job is to make sure that passports and visas are confirmed.”
Speaking on the occasion, the director informed that only from Lahore, 11,351 people left for foreign countries recently on a visit visa. “But several of them were deported which certainly brought a bad name to the country,” he said, and added this was what the FIA wanted to prevent.
The director shared with the court details of the number of people deported from foreign countries and the reasons which led to their repatriation.
He told the court that the FIA did not stop the passengers who were going abroad on genuine study visas.
Justice Haider remarked that countries issued study visas only after taking all factors into account.
The director said that the FIA stopped only those passengers who looked suspicious.
Later, the court adjourned the hearing until Monday.