PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has ordered the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to temporarily remove the name of provincial minister for higher education Meena Khan Afridi’s name from the Provisional National Identification List (PNIL) and allow him to travel to Germany to participate in a joint research program.

A bench consisting of the Chief Justice S.M Attique Shah and Justice Mohammad Ijaz Khan directed Mr Afridi to furnish two surety bonds in the sum of Rs1 million each.

It also directed the respondents, including the interior ministry and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), to submit proper para-wise comments to the petition filed by Mr Afridi requesting the court to declare as illegal and unconstitutional placement of his name in any of the travel restrictions list.

The bench fixed Jun 18 for the next hearing into the plea.

Allows him to go to Germany to participate in research project

“Since the petitioner is the sitting minister for education and pro-chancellor of public universities and has properly been invited by the German Embassy to participate in a joint research project at the University of Tubingen and admittedly his name has not been placed in any of the controlling list except Provisional National Identification List (PNIL) and therefore, we, in the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case and in the larger interest of justice, allow the petitioner to participate in the Joint Research Project at the University of Tubingen, who would return to Pakistan on 16.06.2026,” the bench observed.

“It is clarified that this order is strictly confined to the extent of the official visit of the petitioner and shall not, under any circumstances, be construed, interpreted, invoked or relied upon by the petitioner as a shield, protection, justification or safeguard for any purpose, which may be detrimental to the sovereignty, integrity, honour, dignity and respect of the country,” the bench announced in its four-page order.

A day ago, advocate Bashir Khan Wazir had appeared along with petitioner Afridi and requested the bench to issue an appropriate order for the respondents to immediately remove his name from the Black List, Exit Control List (ECL), PNIL and Passport Control List (PCL).

The counsel said that the petitioner was an elected member of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly and held the portfolio of the higher education department.

He said that the petitioner intended to visit abroad as the German Embassy invited him to participate in a joint research project at the University of Tubingen, and was to fly on June 7 from Bacha Khan International Airport, while the provincial government had also issued a no objection certificate in this regard to him on May 4, 2026.

The lawyer, however, said that the petitioner had learnt about the placement of his name in the Black List, ECL, PNIL and PCL, and as such, he was unable to travel abroad.

He said that his client had approached the relevant authority but in vain, so he had to move the high court.

Keeping in view urgency of the matter, the bench directed deputy attorney general Mohammad Atif Nazir, who was present in the court, to confirm whether the name of the petitioner has been placed on any of the travel restriction lists.

The DAG later informed it that as per his information, conveyed by authorities, the name of the petitioner didn’t figure on any such list except PNIL.

He produced a report, provided by the FIA revealing that the name of the petitioner was placed on the PNIL on Sept 25, 2025, following the approval of the competent authority and that his name was still present on the list.

Published in Dawn, June 6th, 2026