ISLAMABAD: A dispute landed before the Supreme Court on Thursday over customs clearance of ambulances and armoured vehicles brought into the country by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2010 for relief operations after floods devastated Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

A two-judge Supreme Court bench, headed by Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan, asked the Foreign Office to submit a statement explaining the extent of immunity enjoyed by the WHO under a convention governing the operations of the United Nations’ specialised agencies.

Justice Ahsan cited Article III, Section 4 of the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the Specialised Agencies of the United Nations.

The petition was moved by Chaudhry Muhammad Ashraf Gujjar on behalf of the WHO against a Feb 24, 2016, ruling by the Islamabad High Court which turned down a plea by the world body to exempt it from litigation since it enjoyed immunity from court cases brought by a third party in Pakistan under an agreement it signed with the government in 1961.

The federal government was represented by Additional Attorney General Sajid Ilyas Bhatti. The court will now hear the case on Oct 29.

In 2011, the WHO had requested Muhammad Ansar Iqbal of the Multi Logistics Services, Rawalpindi, to carry out customs clearance for 31 ambulances and six armoured vehicles brought into the country by it for emergency operations after the 2010 floods in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The petition explained that since the vehicles were procured by the WHO for relief work, the process did not constitute a commercial transaction.

The appeal alleged that the respondent had tampered with an invoice prepared by a private firm, Yaseen Shipping Line, and billed the WHO for an amount of Rs 1.44 million whereas the original invoice was for Rs344,000.

“The World Health Organisation duly considered all invoices and concluded that the respondent was liable to the petitioner for consequential and incidental losses caused due to an inordinate delay in getting the vehicles released,” the petition argued.

The organisation provided all documents to the respondent on March 25, 2011, for getting the six armoured vehicles released from Karachi Port and so the latter was responsible for the storage and detention costs from March 26, 2011, until release of the vehicles on May 14, 2011, the petition contended.

The respondent company instituted a civil suit in the court of Civil Judge (East) Islamabad against the WHO for recovery of the amount. The proceedings went ahead after the judge dismissed an application by the WHO in which it claimed immunity from being dragged into “unnecessary litigation”.

The application argued that the 1961 agreement made it clear that the government would be responsible for dealing with claims brought by a third party against it in Pakistan.

“Since the present case relates specifically to the performance of WHO’s functions, the civil court or the high court lacks jurisdiction due to the immunity from the legal process granted to the organisation,” the petitioner argued.

“The privileges and immunities available to the UN and its agencies have the force of law in Pakistan and cannot be altered in any manner.”

The appeal pleaded with the Supreme Court to set aside the IHC order as well as the petition pending with the Islamabad civil judge.

Published in Dawn, October 15th, 2021