Pak court slams interior ministry for its failure to deport Indian national held 11 years ago

An Indian national arrested in Pakistan 11 years ago still not deported, court slams interior ministry for lack of effor

A Pakistani court has slammed the interior ministry for its failure to deport an Indian national arrested nearly 11 years ago despite court orders and warned that the secretary concerned would be summoned to explain how his department is working in such cases.

The single-judge bench of the Sindh High Court (SHC) headed by Justice Mohammad Karim Khan Agha on Friday directed the interior ministry to depute an officer well-versed with the facts of the case or file a compliance report at the next hearing, the Dawn newspaper reported on Saturday.

Abdul Mughni was arrested in 2013 by the Mobina Town police station near Abul Hassan Ispahani Road and booked under various provisions of the Foreigners Act. A sessions court sentenced him to six months in prison in 2017. The convict filed an appeal against his conviction before the SHC.

The court during the hearing observed that the appellant was an Indian national, while the interior ministry was not able to confirm his nationality apparently due to lack of efforts, the report said.

The bench said that since the appellant had already served out his sentence, the jail superintendent had been directed to make arrangements for his deportation through the home department.

However, at the last hearing, it also noted that the focal person of the home department of Sindh had submitted that a correspondence was made with the Ministry of Interior on the subject matter and it did not respond and thereafter, the court had issued a notice to the secretary to send an official familiar with this case to explain as to why the appellant had not been deported yet.

On Friday, a section officer of the ministry turned up and said that the deportation did not happen due to certain procedural issues.

The bench in its order said: “I find it quite extraordinary that after a lapse of seven years, the Ministry of Interior has not been able to confirm whether the appellant is an Indian national or not. Prima facie this is because of lack of efforts on the part of the Ministry of Interior.” The bench stated that when the Section Officer was confronted, he was not even aware if the Indian government had a similar computerised national identity card system (Aadhar) like the Nadra.

“In the event, the impugned order dated 24.08.2017 regarding the deportation of the appellant is not complied with by the next hearing, this court will have no option except to call the secretary, Ministry of Interior, government of Pakistan in person to explain as to how his department is working in such like matters,” it added.

The court asked its office to send a copy of this order to the interior secretary for information and compliance and set April 13 as the next date for the hearing of the case.

“It is expected that on the next date of hearing, the secretary, Ministry of Interior shall send an officer well-served with the facts of the case or file his compliance report via DAG [deputy attorney general] regarding the deportation of the appellant,'' the court said.

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