PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court has granted bail to a suspect, claiming to be a Pakistani national having Afghan Citizen Card (ACC), who was arrested by local police for ‘illegal stay’ in the country.

A single-member bench of PHC Chief Justice SM Attique Shah, while accepting a petition filed by the suspect named Abu Bakar, directed him to furnish two sureties of Rs100,000 each.

The bench observed that it was not inclined to withhold the concession of bail from the petitioner so as to enable him to approach the relevant ‘service delivery centre’ of Nadra for cancellation of his Afghan Citizen Card/Proof of Registration (PoR) card, in consonance with the direction issued by the court in its earlier judgement in identical matter, and to pursue the necessary process for obtaining clearance under Section 19 of Pakistan Citizenship Act, 1951, in accordance with law.

The bench directed the petitioner to approach competent authority for the purpose within one week from the date of his release on bail, failing which state should be at liberty to file a bail cancellation application before the court, which should be decided on merit.

Directs petitioner to approach Nadra for cancellation of Afghan Citizen Card

Advocate Jan Afsar Paindakhel appeared for the petitioner and stated that his client was a citizen of Pakistan by descent, however, for earning livelihood in Afghanistan, he along with other family members, got themselves registered as Afghan nationals and obtained ACC/PoR cards.

He stated that such step was taken without fully appreciating or foreseeing its legal consequences, which had now created a serious impediment in the way of the petitioner and other family members in obtaining their computerised national identity cards (CNICs) as Pakistani citizens.

He said that the petitioner along with other family members had earlier approached competent authorities for getting citizenship clearance under Section 19 of Citizenship Act, however, their efforts didn’t yield any favourable result, following which they filed a petition in the high court.

The counsel said that the petition was disposed of by court on April 9, 2026, whereby all petitioners were directed to approach service delivery centre for cancellation of their ACC/PoR cards and for issuance of clearance certificate under Section 19 of Citizenship Act.

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

AFGHANS: The bench granted bail to an Afghan national as he was the sole bread earner of his family including his wife and five minor children.

Advocate Mansoor Salam, appearing for petitioner Akhtar Khan, said that his client was arrested on March 1, 2026, by officials of Inqilab police station, Peshawar, under Section 14 of Foreigners Act.

While accepting the petition, the bench observed: “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,” it ruled.

However, the bench directed law enforcement agencies (LEAs) to ensure immediate and smooth deportation of the accused-petitioner along with his family members from Pakistan.

Meanwhile, the bench also granted bail to a juvenile Afghan refugee arrested on Feb 28 by personnel of Khazana police station, Peshawar, for illegal stay in Pakistan.

Advocate Khushnuma Khan appeared for the petitioner and stated that her client was around 16 years of age; therefore, under Section 6(3) of Juvenile Justice System Act (JJSA), 2018, he was entitled to be released on bail, notwithstanding merits of the case.

The bench observed that under Section 6(3) of JJSA, bail to a juvenile might be refused in exceptional circumstances when the court was of the view that the release of the petitioner was likely to bring him into association with known criminals, expose him to moral, physical or psychological danger, or otherwise defeat the end of justice. It added that in the present case there were no such reasonable apprehensions.

The bench, however, directed law enforcement agencies to take steps for his and his family members’ deportation from Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, April 17th, 2026