Judge Bajwa rules that a paper trail is now a “substantive safeguard” for civil liberty
LAHORE:
Immigration officials can no longer restrain passengers solely with verbal orders, the Lahore High Court (LHC) has ruled, declaring the practice a violation of fundamental rights.
The verdict represents strong legal control for the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) a few days after it revealed the magnitude of its current raid: 66,154 travelers disembarked in 2025.
Justice Ali Zia Bajwa, presiding over the Multan court, issued a two-page interim order stating that providing written reasons for a travel ban is not a mere formality but a “substantive legal safeguard”.
During the hearing of a petition challenging one of those discharges, the court pressed the state legal officer on the specific motives behind the action. The officer admitted that there were no written reasons in the file.
Read: Government panel to investigate unloading of travelers
Transparency and the right to legal redress depend on a paper trail, the court observed, warning that arbitrary restrictions on personal liberty violate the principles of natural justice. “Any action that limits personal freedom must have a clear legal basis,” Judge Bajwa wrote, ordering authorities to provide the petitioner with a written explanation before the next hearing.
FIA download statistics
These judicial restrictions come amid a massive law enforcement campaign. Testifying before the National Assembly Standing Committee on Overseas Pakistanis earlier this week, FIA Director General Riffat Mukhtar defended the agency’s surveillance, citing the offloading of more than 66,000 passengers this year.
Broken down, the numbers paint a picture of aggressive border control. Approximately 51,000 people were detained due to the “questionable veracity” of their documents, which spanned work, tourist and Umrah visas.
Read more: 66,154 air travelers disembarked this year, FIA tells NA body
External diplomatic pressure appears to be driving this scrutiny. The Director General noted that 56,000 Pakistani beggars had recently been deported from Saudi Arabia, a trend he identified as the main trigger for tighter control. He further informed the committee that the United Arab Emirates had imposed visa restrictions, while illegal migration routes to Africa, Cambodia and Thailand were experiencing increased traffic.
government investigation
Amid growing complaints that valid visa holders are caught in this web, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has intervened. A high-level committee, headed by Federal Minister for Overseas Pakistanis Chaudhry Salik, is investigating the matter.
The panel, comprising representatives from the Ministry of External Affairs, NADRA and Pakistan Digital Authority, is tasked with standardizing verification processes to ensure that genuine travelers are not harassed.
