LAHORE: The Lahore High Court restrained on Tuesday the government from deporting any Turkish citizens and summoned the record of the Civil Aviation Authority regarding arrival of a special aircraft from Turkey, which allegedly left Pakistan with former vice president of the Pak-Turk International Schools and Colleges Mesut Kacmaz and his wife on board.

Deputy Attorney General Imran Aziz, while representing the ministries of interior and foreign affairs, had earlier told the court that as per the available record the Turkish couple and their children had not been flown out of the country.

Justice Shams Mahmood Mirza was hearing a petition moved by a Turkish citizen, Orhan Uygun, challenging the alleged deportation of his colleague Mr Kacmaz and his family members in violation of the stay order issued earlier by the court.

Rejecting the government’s claim, Advocate Asma Jahangir told the court that the Turkish family had been taken out of Pakistan aboard a special plane sent by the Turkish government. She said the family had been deported forcibly and handed over to Turkish police, who had come over to Pakistan for the purpose.

Court summons CAA record in case about Turkish family

Presenting a list of other Turkish educationists in Pakistan, Ms Jahangir told the court they had applied for asylum under the protection of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, but now had serious apprehensions after the deportation of their colleague and his family members.

At this, Justice Mirza issued an order to the federal government, restraining it from deporting the Turkish teachers mentioned by the counsel without prior and specific orders of the court.

The judge also ordered the Lahore police chief to depute police personnel at the residences of the Turkish nationals for their protection. The hearing was adjourned till Oct 25.

In his petition Mr Uygun had submitted that the government, through the attorney general, had undertaken before the court last year that the Turkish employees of the Pak-Turk schools and colleges would not be deported till Nov 24.

However, he alleged that Mr Kacmaz and his family members had been abducted by unidentified persons from their house and there was likelihood that they would soon be deported in violation of the court’s order. The police were also reluctant to register a case about the abduction.

He requested the court to restrain the government from deporting Turkish educationists and also place their names on the exit control list.

Talking to media personnel, Ms Jahangir questioned the way the Turkish family had allegedly been flown out of the country in violation of the stay order. She said passports of the family members were in Pakistan and that they had been deported forcibly.

“Is it not a law of the jungle?” she asked and added that “everything is being done to appease a king”.

She also condemned the government functionaries for expressing ignorance about the “deportation of the Turkish family”.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2017