The Sindh High Court (SHC) has stated lawyer Jibran Nasir and his wife Mansha Pasha’s inclusion in the watch list — which led to them being stopped from travelling to Dubai last month — was done “secretively”, adding that the move to bar them from travelling abroad was “without lawful authority”.

Earlier this month, Nasir — who was “picked up by unidentified men” outside his residence in Karachi in June and released 24 hours later — revealed that he was stopped from travelling to Dubai by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) last month.

“We checked in our luggage, got boarding passes, cleared immigration and got the exit stamps but while approaching the departure lounge we were called by an FIA official who appeared to be receiving instructions from someone on his phone,” he said in a post on social media platform X.

The official, he continued, took their passports and read the names to the person he was on the phone with. Nasir quoted the officer as saying “yahi log hain aap kay (these are your people)” after which “we were made to miss our flight, our baggage returned and offloaded stamps affixed on our passports”.

“No formal explanation was given except for ’samjha karain sir, hamain instructions hain aap ko janay nahi dena (please understand sir, we have been given instruction to not allow you to leave),” the activist said.

Nasir said neither he nor his wife received any information pertaining to the matter from the interior ministry. He also shared photos of passports, which showed an “offloaded” stamp.

Subsequently, Nasir had approached the SHC against the move. The plea had urged the court to declare actions of offloading Nasir and restraining his travel abroad “illegal, unlawful and unconstitutional”.

The SHC order, penned by Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto, said, “Under the law, to prohibit any person from leaving Pakistan must be exercised by means of an order which should be communicated to the affected person(s) as soon as the order is passed.

“This means that if any order is passed but the same is not communicated to the person concerned, it would be a case of arbitrary exercise of power if the order is kept secret only to surprise the person later the moment he is leaving the country,” it said.

The SHC further said that a person could not be placed on a no-fly list without issuing a show-cause notice or providing an opportunity of hearing.

“Since the placement of a person on the watch list or Exit Control List (ECL) curtails the freedom of movement of a citizens, it is settled that a person cannot be placed in the said list unless a show-cause notice, and an opportunity of hearing is provided to him before the adverse action is taken against him/her,” the order said.

“So far, as the facts of the present cases are concerned, inclusion of petitioners’ names in the watch list was done secretively as the petitioners were never served with any notice that their names were included in the watch list, let alone providing them an opportunity of hearing before placing them in the watch list. On these grounds alone, the acts of the Ministry of Interior/FIA, culminating in the offloading of the petitioners, who are husband and wife, from the plane was without lawful authority.”

The court also said that Karachi Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Pir Riaz Muhammad Shah placed on record a copy of a letter dated June 23 that was issued by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) director general to the FIA deputy director (immigration) at Jinnah International Airport which showed that Nasir and his wife had been placed on the watch list.

“In the said letter, reasons are not assigned as to why the names of the petitioners have been placed on the watch list. Particulars of the individuals or petitioners that in which inquiry/matter they are required and cannot travel abroad are also not mentioned.

“Admittedly, the names of the petitioners are not on ECL. DAG has also failed to produce any material or show-cause notice issued against the petitioners placing their names on the watch list,” the order said.

The SHC declared the letter issued by the ISI DG to “have been issued without any lawful authority and of no legal effect”. It said that the letter on the part of the federal government prohibiting the petitioners from proceeding abroad was “without lawful authority and of no legal effect”.

“Consequently, it is ordered that the petitioners shall be allowed to proceed abroad without any obstruction of hindrance by the federal government or any of its agencies or authorities,” the order said.

Responding to today’s development, Nasir said he was “grateful” to the SHC for “declaring that restricting our travel and offloading us was unlawful and the letter issued in this regard to place my name on the watch list was without lawful authority”.

“The court directed that no hindrance be created in future travels. The judgement is a good precedent to challenge similar actions taken against any citizen in violation of the law and constitution,” he said on X.