PHC grants bail to citizen held for 'illegal' stay in Pakistan

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has granted bail to a man who says he is a Pakistani national but was arrested on charges of illegal stay in the country while holding an Afghan Citizen Card.

A single-member bench headed by PHC Chief Justice SM Attique Shah accepted the petition filed by Abu Bakar and directed him to furnish two sureties of Rs100,000 each.

The court said it was not inclined to deny bail to the petitioner so that he could approach the relevant service delivery centre of Nadra for cancellation of his Afghan Citizen Card or Proof of Registration card, in line with directions issued in an earlier judgment in a similar matter. The bench also said he could pursue the process for obtaining clearance under Section 19 of the Pakistan Citizenship Act, 1951, in accordance with the law.

The bench directed the petitioner to approach the competent authority for that purpose within one week of his release on bail. If he failed to do so, the state would be at liberty to move an application for cancellation of bail, which would be decided on merit.

Petitioner’s claim

Advocate Jan Afsar Paindakhel, appearing for Abu Bakar, told the court that his client was a Pakistani citizen by descent. He said that for livelihood in Afghanistan, the petitioner and other family members had registered themselves as Afghan nationals and obtained ACC or PoR cards.

The lawyer said the step had been taken without fully understanding its legal consequences and had since created difficulties for the petitioner and his relatives in obtaining computerised national identity cards as Pakistani citizens.

He added that the petitioner and his family had earlier approached the competent authorities for citizenship clearance under Section 19 of the Citizenship Act, but did not get a favourable outcome. He said they then moved the high court, which disposed of their petition on April 9, 2026, directing all petitioners to approach the service delivery centre for cancellation of their ACC or PoR cards and for issuance of a clearance certificate under Section 19 of the Citizenship Act.

However, the counsel said, the petitioner had been arrested in the meantime by officials of Khan Raziq Shaheed police station in Peshawar on March 1, 2026, under Section 14 of the Foreigners Act for alleged illegal stay in Pakistan.

Other bail orders

In a separate matter, the same bench granted bail to an Afghan national, Akhtar Khan, after noting that he was the sole breadwinner for his family, including his wife and five minor children.

Advocate Mansoor Salam told the court that his client had been arrested on March 1, 2026, by officials of Inqilab police station, Peshawar, under Section 14 of the Foreigners Act.

"Notwithstanding the merits of the case, this court, in the exercise of its judicial discretion, considers it appropriate to take into account the peculiar facts and circumstances brought on record, particularly the status of the accused-petitioner as the sole breadwinner of a family comprising his wife and five minor children of tender ages. Accordingly, without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, and purely on humanitarian grounds/considerations, this court is inclined to extend the concession of bail to the accused-petitioner, in the larger interest of justice and in view of the given circumstances of the case," the court's order stated.

While granting bail, the bench directed law enforcement agencies to ensure the immediate and smooth deportation of the petitioner along with his family members from Pakistan.

In another case, the court also granted bail to a juvenile Afghan refugee who had been arrested on Feb 28 by personnel of Khazana police station, Peshawar, for illegal stay in Pakistan.

Advocate Khushnuma Khan told the court that her client was around 16 years old and was therefore entitled to bail under Section 6(3) of the Juvenile Justice System Act, 2018, regardless of the merits of the case.

The bench observed that under Section 6(3) of the law, bail to a juvenile could be refused only in exceptional circumstances if the court believed that release was likely to bring the petitioner into association with known criminals, expose him to moral, physical or psychological danger, or otherwise defeat the ends of justice. No such reasonable apprehensions existed in the present case.

The court, however, directed law enforcement agencies to take steps for the deportation of the juvenile and his family members from Pakistan.