ISLAMABAD: A writ petition has been filed in the Supreme Court of Pakistan seeking a restraining order to the government to stop deportation of Afghan refugees.
The petition was filed by rights activists, including former senator Farhatullah Babar, Afrasiab Khattak and former MNA Mohsin Dawar.
Filed under Article 84/3 of the constitution, the petition cited the federal government, the interior ministry, Foreign Office and NADRA as respondents.
The petition contended that those Afghans who were born in Pakistan had the right of having citizenship of the country. The deportation of any alien having legal documents was also illegal.
The petition also said that Pakistan was a signatory to international conventions under which it cannot expel those Afghans who had reached the country seeking asylum after the Taliban takeover of Kabul.
Many Afghans were also waiting to move to other countries and their visa processes were underway. It said the government had taken the decision to expel undocumented immigrants in haste which could lead to humanitarian crisis.
The petition also said that the caretaker government was not mandated to take such a decision that would gave far-reaching national and international implications.
It may be mentioned here that after the expiry of the deadline set for the illegal Afghans to go back voluntarily on October 31, the police and other law enforcement agencies started action against those still staying in different cities and towns.
On the first day of the action against the illegal aliens, police in Islamabad rounded up 64 Afghans. They were later shifted to Peshawar in two buses.
Officials said that action had also been launched against the illegal Afghans in different parts of the country. Most of the illegal Afghans are reported to be living in Karachi.
The Sindh caretaker government has set up two holding centers in Karachi where the illegal Afghans would be kept and then sent to Balochistan for deportation through the Chaman border.
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