Farhatullah, others move SC challenging certain govt steps against Afghans

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has been asked to restrain the Federation from detaining, forcefully deporting or otherwise harassing Afghans who are either refugees or asylum seekers and possess POR, ACC, and asylum seeker applications issued by the UNHCR.

Former Pakistan People’s Party senator Farhatullah Babar and others, on Monday, through advocate Umar Gilani, urged the apex court’s registrar’s office to allot a case number and schedule a date for hearing.

The petitioners also prayed before the court to restrain the Federation and its instrumentalities from detaining, forcefully deporting or otherwise harassing anyone who was born in Pakistan and has claim to birth-right citizenship in accordance with Section 4 of the Citizenship Act, 1951.

They further prayed the top court to “protect the fundamental rights of millions of people” residing in Pakistan under Article 4, states the request.

The federal government has initiated a crackdown against “undocumented” Afghan nationals - essentially persons seeking refuge in the country and awaiting legal formalities. Since November 1, 2023, the state has begun a campaign to forcibly evict around 1.3 million such persons under the garb of addressing the issue of “illegal migrants” on whom it has placed the unfair burden of the country’s worsening economic and security concerns.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023