LAHORE (Muhammad Ashfaq) – The Lahore High Court has dismissed a petition challenging the offloading of a citizen at Islamabad International Airport and his prevention from travelling abroad.
Justice Manwar Iqbal Dogar ruled that the action taken at Islamabad airport does not fall within the territorial jurisdiction of the Lahore High Court. The court also clarified that dismissing the petition did not amount to a determination of whether the offloading itself was lawful or unlawful.
The decision was announced in a petition filed by Muhammad Owais, who had challenged the action taken by Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) immigration officials on July 17, 2026. The petitioner claimed that he had been stopped from travelling despite possessing complete and valid travel documents and was not provided with a written reason or legal order explaining why he had been offloaded.
Jurisdiction issue
Owais's counsel, Syed Irfan Haider Naqvi, argued that the FIA is a federal government institution performing federal functions, making it possible to approach any High Court against its actions. He further submitted that the petitioner was a resident of Punjab and continued to suffer the consequences of the action in the province.
On that basis, the lawyer argued that the Lahore High Court had jurisdiction to hear the petition under Article 199 of the Constitution.
Assistant Attorney General of Pakistan Muhammad Shakeel Ahmed Pasha raised a preliminary objection to the maintainability of the petition. The government lawyer argued that the petitioner had been offloaded by FIA immigration officials at Islamabad International Airport, where the officers examined his travel documents and stopped him from leaving the country.
Therefore, he maintained, the action had taken place entirely within Islamabad and the Lahore High Court did not have territorial jurisdiction over the matter.
Justice Manwar Iqbal Dogar observed in the judgment that Article 199 gives a High Court extraordinary constitutional powers, but those powers are expressly subject to territorial limitations. Under Article 199(1)(a), a High Court may issue an order against a person performing functions in connection with the affairs of the federation, a province or a local authority where that person is within the court's territorial jurisdiction.
The court stressed that the territorial requirement is not merely a procedural technicality. Rather, it constitutes a fundamental constitutional limitation on the exercise of a High Court's jurisdiction.
Federal agency’s argument
The judgment noted that the fact that the FIA is a federal institution does not give every High Court unrestricted authority to examine actions carried out by its officials anywhere in the country.
The court also referred to Supreme Court judgments while considering the petitioner's argument that his residence in Punjab gave the Lahore High Court jurisdiction. It held that residence alone could not establish jurisdiction over an action that was completed locally in Islamabad.
According to the judgment, a petitioner's residence may become relevant where a federal order or continuing restraint produces effects within Punjab. However, merely living in Punjab cannot confer jurisdiction on the Lahore High Court over a specific action that took place entirely in Islamabad.
The court also considered the reference made by the petitioner's counsel to the Ayan Ali case but found that the circumstances of that case were distinguishable from the present matter.
Justice Dogar warned that accepting the argument that any High Court could exercise jurisdiction over an action taken by a federal institution in Islamabad would effectively render the territorial restriction imposed by Article 199 meaningless.
The Lahore High Court made it clear that the dismissal of Owais's petition did not validate the decision to offload him. Nor did the court declare the action unlawful.
Instead, the court allowed the petitioner to approach the High Court having territorial jurisdiction over the location where the offloading took place. It further clarified that if Owais approaches the appropriate forum, that court will independently determine the legality of the offloading in accordance with the law.
The Lahore High Court consequently dismissed the petition solely on the ground that it lacked territorial jurisdiction over the action taken at Islamabad International Airport.