IHC questions FIA's legal authority to offload travellers

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court on Thursday questioned the legal authority of the Federal Investigation Agency to offload passengers travelling abroad, expressing strong displeasure over the agency's reliance on self-created standard operating procedures to stop people from boarding flights.

Justice Inaam Ameen Minhas was hearing a petition filed by citizen Sajid. FIA Additional Director Zunaira and Deputy Director Afzal Niazi appeared before the court, according to ARY News.

The FIA officials produced a 1975 letter and claimed passengers were being offloaded under those SOPs. Justice Minhas said the letter contained nothing that allowed the FIA to offload passengers.

"An SOP is not a law. We have to enforce the law," the judge remarked. He observed that an institution could not change the law itself or curtail citizens' fundamental right to travel through SOPs.

"You are an agency of Pakistan wearing a uniform, but apparently you are acting against the law," he said.

Deputy Director Niazi told the court that 45,850 deportees had returned to Pakistan, 39,095 people who travelled abroad on visit visas did not return, and more than 1,100 people were involved in begging abroad.

Justice Minhas asked whether the FIA could stop a passenger only on suspicion that the person might engage in a particular activity abroad. If such measures were needed, he said, the agency should have sought amendments to the relevant law rather than relying on internal SOPs.

"What will happen to fundamental rights then? What role will be left for you and the courts?" he asked, warning that other state institutions could follow the same practice.

The court directed the FIA to assist at the next hearing specifically on the legal provisions governing offloading and prevention of travel, and to appear fully prepared.

ARY News reported that on September 4, the IHC had also expressed displeasure over passengers being offloaded without valid reasons. Justice Ayaz Shaukat, hearing a petition by Muhammad Saeed Khan, had said the reason for offloading must be recorded whenever a person is stopped.