LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday termed a report submitted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the detention of two PTI-affiliated Pakistani citizens in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) unsatisfactory and summoned the relevant official at the next hearing.
On Sept 14, the LHC had directed the foreign secretary to process and decide within 15 days representations concerning the detention of two citizens — Syed Salman Raza Zaidi and Muhammad Junaid Jahangir. On Oct 22, the court issued notices to the foreign secretary while hearing two contempt pleas over the non-implementation of its order.
In a reply submitted through the attorney general’s office on Thursday against the contempt pleas, the ministry said it referred the matter to the mission immediately after receiving the court’s directions.
The reply, signed by Additional Secretary (Middle East) Zahid Hussain, said the mission was told to pursue the matter with the UAE’s competent authorities and furnish a report to the ministry “expeditiously”.
The ministry said the response from the UAE authorities had not yet been received.
Once the requisite report arrives, it said, the matter would be examined further so that the foreign secretary could make an informed decision in light of the facts and circumstances of the case and the court’s directions.
Barrister Abuzar Salman Niazi, appearing on behalf of the petitioners, argued that despite repeated directions, the Foreign Office had failed to answer the most fundamental questions about the citizens’ detention.
He said the ministry’s reply did not reflect what concrete steps had been taken by the Pakistani diplomatic mission to secure consular and diplomatic access to the detained citizens.
Justice Tariq Mahmood Bajwa also termed the ministry’s reply unsatisfactory and summoned the officer responsible to appear in person at the next hearing.
At previous hearings, the petitioners’ counsel alleged that the two individuals remained deprived of consular, diplomatic and legal access.
He recalled the court’s Sept 14 directive and contended that the petitioners had not been formally informed of any decision on their representations, even though a considerable amount of time had passed.
According to the first writ petition, Zaidi went missing from his residence in Sharjah on Sept 27, 2024, and was subsequently taken into custody by UAE authorities.
It said despite nearly two years having passed, the petitioner, Faryal Zainab, had still not been provided clear information regarding the charges against Zaidi, her husband, the judicial proceedings, any sentence or the complete court record.
The second petition said Jahangir was allegedly detained on Sept 24, 2024, at Dubai airport on his return from Saudi Arabia.
Muhammad Ibrahim, Jahangir’s father, filed the petition challenging the alleged failure of the federal government and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to provide effective consular protection and legal assistance.
Source: www.dawn.com
