HYDERABAD: A division bench of the Sindh High Court, Hyderabad circuit, on Tuesday restrained the federal interior ministry from taking any punitive action against seven Turks, along with other petitioners, who have been asked to leave the country.

The bench comprising Justice Salahuddin Panhwar and Justice Mohammad Iqbal Mahar passed the order on a constitutional petition filed by Dr M.Jawed Khilji, Ayaz Hussain Kalhoro, Ender Tergip, Erdogan Hozan, Abdurrahman Guner, Abdussamed Dursun, Yavuz Ilbay, Ertugrul Dumur, Omer Baktir, Ali Yilmaz and Ercan Acar.

The petitioners submitted in court that the interior ministry had issued the exit permit for their repatriation. They said they were delivering education and their children were studying in Pak-Turk Education Foundation schools in Jamshoro and Hyderabad. They stated that their children were in the midst of their academic session and would be badly affected if the interior ministry’s order was executed.

The ministry’s denial of extension in the visas and order to leave the country within three days would also lead to closure of the schools, they said.

Representing the petitioners, Advocate Ayatullah Khowaja said that in an identical matter, the Peshawar High Court had restrained respondents from taking punitive action against petitioners. He prayed for similar relief to his clients.

The court issued notices to the interior ministry and deputy attorney general for Dec 20 and asked the respondents not to take punitive action against the petitioners.

Shops demolition case

The same bench restrained respondents from taking coercive action against a petitioner who was on Monday (Nov 28) warned by the Hyderabad deputy commissioner and other officials that the six shops built by him in Bachal Shah village of deh Hotki, tapa Tandojam, would be demolished. The bench ordered the DC and rural taluka assistant commissioner to appear before it on Thursday (Dec 1).

Petitioner Pir Raheel Hussain, through Advocate Rashid Ujjan, submitted in court that he had purchased the land on Oct 17, 2002 and built the shops on it.

He stated that on on Monday, the rural taluka mukhtiarkar and Tandojam SHO brought heavy machinery to demolish the shops but the same day he met the DC and other officials to produce the relevant documents which also suggested that the shops were built away from the main road (highway). Still the respondents insisted that the shops would be demolished, he further stated.

The petitioner has cited the works and services secretary, highways chief engineer and assistant engineer of Tandojam subdivision, DC, rural taluka AC and others as respondents.

The bench also directed the respondents to bring a complete record of the Hyderabad-Mirpurkhas road, the mutation and the map showing the width and length of the road on Thursday.

Published in Dawn, November 30th, 2016