Peshawar High Court Declares Travel Bans Without Notice Illegal

The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has ruled that authorities cannot impose international travel restrictions on citizens without issuing a prior show-cause notice, declaring such actions illegal and unconstitutional.

A bench comprising Justice Sahibzada Asadullah and Justice Dr Khurshid Iqbal issued the verdict while accepting around 36 petitions filed mostly by residents of Kurram District against travel restrictions and passport control measures.

In a detailed 36-page judgment, the court ruled that government departments cannot place citizens on travel ban lists or restrict their movement without first issuing a show-cause notice and a reasoned order.

The bench stated that this requirement can only be bypassed in cases of extreme national security urgency, and even then, authorities must issue a notice within 24 hours of imposing the restriction.

The court also declared the use of the Provisional National Identification List (PNIL) and a “blacklist” for restricting travel illegal.

It ruled that these lists created a parallel legal system that bypassed the Exit from Pakistan (Control) Ordinance, 1981.

The PHC directed authorities, including the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), to immediately remove the petitioners’ names from the PNIL, blacklist, and Passport Control List, and allow them to travel unless they are formally placed on the Exit Control List (ECL) in accordance with the law.

The court further ruled that only the federal government has the authority to impound passports under the Passports Act, 1974, not the FIA. It ordered the agency to return confiscated passports to the petitioners within 15 days.

Additionally, the court instructed the government to decide pending review petitions regarding ECL placements within 15 days, warning that failure to do so would result in the automatic removal of the petitioners’ names from the list.

The bench also directed the Directorate of Immigration and Passports to renew passports of overseas Pakistanis whose applications were previously denied due to their inclusion in PNIL or blacklist databases.

The judgment emphasized that the Constitution allows restrictions on foreign travel only through reasonable legal measures and not through secret or indefinite administrative actions.