The Islamabad Excessive Court docket (IHC) has requested the federal authorities to ascertain a mechanism in accordance with Article 31 of the Refugee Conference, 1951.
This mechanism ought to allow refugees to voluntarily report upon arrival in Pakistan that they search refuge and want to register with the United Nations Excessive Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to hunt asylum in a 3rd nation.
“It should even be famous that in a case the place the state has initially registered an FIR [First Information Report] below the Foreigners Act, [1946] however has subsequently verified by means of the instrumentality of [the] UNHCR that the foreigner in query is a bona fide and legit refugee searching for asylum in a 3rd nation, the state is just not a hapless bystander.
“Upon verification of the refugee standing of a foreigner by [the] UNCHR, the refugee should not be saved incarcerated like an below trial prisoner,” mentioned a 21-page order authored by IHC decide Babar Sattar.
An Afghan lady, Rahil Azizi, had moved the IHC towards registration of a FIR towards her below the Foreigners Act, 1946 for coming into Pakistan with out a visa.
The IHC quashed the FIR towards Rahil, noting that the Structure grants the precise of asylum. It instructed the Ministry of Inside to concern a no-objection certificates (NOC) to the Afghan lady for touring to Australia, which has issued a visa to her.
The court docket requested the federal government to make preparations to lodge refugees independently or in affiliation with the UNHCR in order that till recognition of their refugee standing and choice on asylum functions, such refugees are usually not locked up in prisons.
“The federal government should additionally body SOPs [Standard Operating Procedures] to direct police authorities to launch an accused refugee [booked] below Part 169 of CrPC [Code of Criminal Procedure]…
“Or [it should] file an applicable report below Part 173 of CrPC or file an applicable utility below Part 494 of CrPC forthwith to withdraw from the prosecution of the foreigner, relying on the stage within the case in query, as soon as the refugee standing of the foreigner has been acknowledged by UNHCR and his utility for grant of asylum is below course of or has been accredited.
“This can be sure that a foreigner searching for refuge is just not unnecessarily charged, and the place the cost has been framed, such foreigner will be acquitted in respect of any offence below the Foreigners Act, [1946] that he/she has been charged with.”
It mentioned the Ministry of Inside can concern an applicable exit allow to allow such foreigners to journey to the nation that has granted them asylum.
“Facilitating the settlement of a refugee in a 3rd nation wouldn’t simply burnish the credentials of Pakistan as a polity that understands the plight of refugees, on condition that it has shouldered the burden of refugee settlement from neighboring nations.
“It might even be a wise public coverage selection to cut back litigation and stop additional burdening of the legal justice system with pointless trials,” the decision mentioned.
Rahil Azizi claimed that she was working for the Afghan police for 5 years below the erstwhile Afghan Nationwide Authorities. In August 2021, the Kabul administration fell and the Taliban wrested again management of Afghanistan and shaped a brand new authorities.
Many civilians in addition to officers working with regulation enforcement businesses below the earlier authorities feared for his or her lives resulting from regime change within the aftermath of a violent civil conflict.
To avoid wasting her life, Rahil escaped to Pakistan by crossing the border. She, nevertheless, didn’t have a visa to enter Pakistan and had no time to hunt one, given the safety scenario in Afghanistan in August 2021.
Rahil approached the police in Islamabad and narrated her story.
She was produced earlier than Potohar Assistant Commissioner and was initially despatched to a darul amaan.
Subsequently, the Federal Investigation Company (FIA) registered an FIR towards her for an offence below Part 14(2) of the Foreigners Act, 1946and despatched her to Adiala Jail.