ISLAMABAD: A petition was filed in the Supreme Court on Tuesday, challenging the Interior Ministry’s notification banning the issuance of passports to asylum seekers abroad.
Advocate Saim Chaudhry filed the petition under Section 184(3), and requested the apex court to nullify the government’s June 5 policy about banning the issuance of passports to asylum seekers abroad.
“The notification of passport ban is discriminatory and against fundamental rights,” the petition reads. The federal government and DG Passport have been made respondents in the petition.
The petition requested to immediately stop implementation of the government’s policy as the notification did not specify the reasons for the ban. The petition claimed that government notification is contrary to Articles 10, 10A, and 25 of the Constitution.
Earlier, interior ministry announced that it will not issue passports to its citizens who would get asylum in other countries.
The Ministry of Interior in a letter said that all those Pakistani citizens who will get asylum in other countries, on whatever basis, would not be issued Pakistani passports.
The decision was taken citing the national security reasons, elaborating that the passports of such citizens of the country will stand cancelled and will not be renewable.
Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has issued instructions to the interior ministry and subsequently the ministry issued a letter to this effect to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other concerned authorities.
