The practice of offloading airline passengers at Pakistani airports ignites a debate all around the country and people have started questioning its legality. Although it is lawful, the law imposes certain restrictions, and sets boundaries for the concerned officers and limiting their powers so they could not use it arbitrarily.

It all started as the result of the Greece incident where 40 Pakistanis died while illegally crossing the sea in an attempt to cross the European border. The interior ministry since then started working on it to curb illegal immigration. The relevant laws were already in force but were not being properly adhered to. However, the current regime strictly imposes them and has left no room for illegal immigration and the offloading is part of this plan.

There is no single law dealing with the offloading but it is a practice based on different statutes and in collaboration among different departments and ministries including Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Civil Aviation. The main statute used to justify the offloading of passengers, which allows relevant authorities to examine travel documents and to stop passengers from leaving the country if any document is found false or forged is Pakistan Immigration Ordinance, 1979. However, there is no provision........

© Courting The Law