The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Saturday said that travel restrictions could not be imposed on any citizen without authorization by a legal authority and without following a proper procedure, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
The high court declared the placing of name of Zain Atiq, a petitioner, on the Passport Control List (PCL) without following a proper procedure ‘illegal’ and ordered the removal of his name from the list.
The court said that the citizen’s name was put on the PCL following his deportation from Turkey in July 2022, and that at his request, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) later recommended the removal of his name from the list since it had been there for two years. “However, the Passport Authority rejected the FIA’s request due to non -perusal,” it added.
The IHC made it clear that the name of any person deported from a country because he was an illegal immigrant could not remain on the PCL for an indefinite period of time without an authorization by the concerned authority.
The court said there was nothing on record that could prove that any authority had ordered that Atiq’s name should remain on the PCL. “Similarly, there is nothing on record that could show that the citizen was convicted in a criminal case either in Pakistan or Turkey or any case against him is sub judice,” the court said, adding, “In this situation, there is no justification for not removing the name of the petitioner from the list.”
The court recalled that it had been laid down in the verdict in the Shireen Mazari case that travel restrictions on any citizen could only be imposed after following a proper procedure and with the consent of the concerned authority.
Reporter: Ihtesham Kiani