While hearing a petition against the caretaker government’s decision to deport Afghan nationals from the country, Supreme Court judge Justice Ayesha A. Malik noted that Pakistan is signatory to the United Nations conventions protecting the rights of refugees.
A three-member bench of the top court is hearing the petition against the forced deportation of Afghan refugees from Pakistan, jointly filed by politicians Farhatullah Babar, Senator Mushtaq Ahmed, Mohsin Dawar and activists Amina Masood Janjua, Jibran Nasir and Imaan Mazari.
The SC bench includes Justice Malik, Justice Sardar Tariq Masood and Justice Yahya Afridi.
The petition was first filed last month and had appealed to the Supreme Court to deem the mass deportation of Afghans as unlawful, unconstitutional, and a violation of fundamental rights. However, the registrar had` returned the petition, saying that it did not indicate the specific issues related to public importance that were linked to the enforcement of constitutional rights.
On November 20, Justice Afridi instructed that the case against the registrar’s rejection of the petition be scheduled for a formal hearing.
In November, a country-wide effort was launched by the government to expel undocumented foreign nationals, with a large number of those affected being Afghans. Despite facing opposition from Afghanistan and various other groups, the authorities remained firm in their decision, asserting that the action was not targeting any specific ethnic community.
