SHC finds Jibran Nasir, wife Mansha Pasha's offloading unlawful
Pakistan
SHC finds Jibran Nasir, wife Mansha Pasha’s offloading unlawful
KARACHI (Dunya News) - Human rights activist and lawyer Jibran Nasir and his wife Mansha Pasha’s inclusion in the watch list was done secretively, the Sindh High Court (SHC) has ruled, a month after the couple was barred from travelling to Dubai by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).
Nasir had moved the high court, pleading to declare actions of offloading him and restraining his travel abroad “illegal, unlawful and unconstitutional”.
Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto, who handed down the judgement on Thursday, stated that “offloading of the petitioners, who are husband and wife, from the plane was without lawful authority”. He also observed that the letter on the part of the federal government prohibiting the petitioners from proceeding abroad was “without lawful authority and of no legal effect”.
Taking to X, the social networking platform formerly Twitter, Nasir wrote, “Grateful to Hon' SHC for allowing our Petitions and declaring that restricting our travel and offloading us was unlawful and the letter issued in this regard to place my name on the Watch List was without lawful authority as neither any prior notice was given to us in this regard nor any supporting or incriminating material exists to take such measures against us.”
“The Court directed that no hindrance be created in future travels. The Judgement is a good precedent to challenge similar actions taken against any citizen in violation of the law and constitution. You can access the full six page judgement here,” he added in his tweet.
Grateful to Hon' SHC for allowing our Petitions and declaring that restricting our travel and offloading us was unlawful and the letter issued in this regard to place my name on the Watch List was without lawful authority as neither any prior notice was given to us in this regard… https://t.co/2sQHampEJo pic.twitter.com/8bdQK6HdU7
— M. Jibran Nasir (@MJibranNasir) August 31, 2023
In the order, judge Phulpoto detailed that “under the law, to prohibit any person from leaving Pakistan must be exercised by means of an order which should be communicated to the affected person(s) as soon as the order is passed”.
“This means that if any order is passed but the same is not communicated to the person concerned, it would be a case of arbitrary exercise of power if the order is kept secret only to surprise the person later the moment he is leaving the country,” he added in the order.
“Since the placement of a person on the watch list or Exit Control List (ECL) curtails the freedom of movement of a citizens, it is settled that a person cannot be placed in the said list unless a show-cause notice, and an opportunity of hearing is provided to him before the adverse action is taken against him/her,” the order said.
“So far, as the facts of the present cases are concerned, inclusion of petitioners’ names in the watch list was done secretively as the petitioners were never served with any notice that their names were included in the watch list, let alone providing them an opportunity of hearing before placing them in the watch list. On these grounds alone, the acts of the Ministry of Interior/FIA, culminating in the offloading of the petitioners, who are husband and wife, from the plane was without lawful authority.”
The court noted that Karachi Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Pir Riaz Muhammad Shah placed on record a copy of a letter dated June 23 that was issued by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) director general to the FIA deputy director (Immigration) at the Jinnah International Airport which showed that the couple had been placed on the watch list.
