ISLAMABAD – For Pakistanis repeatedly facing offloading at airports, a major relief comes as Islamabad High Court puts a legal check on stopping citizens from travelling abroad without fulfilling mandatory legal requirements.
Islamabad High Court has delivered a major ruling against the offloading of citizens from flights without fulfilment of legal requirements, declaring that no person can be stopped from travelling abroad merely on the recommendation of a government department. Justice Raja Inam Amin Minhas issued the landmark judgment while hearing a petition filed by citizen Moeenuddin, who had been stopped from travelling for Umrah.
The court struck down the relevant provision of Rule 22(2)(b) of the Passport Rules, 2021, to the extent that it allowed the inclusion of citizens’ names on the Passport Control List (PCL) on the recommendation of government agencies without the necessary legal requirements.
IHC made it clear that placing a citizen’s name on the PCL requires clear legal authority, identification of the competent authority and fulfilment of all prescribed legal requirements.
The court directed the authorities to remove Moeenuddin’s name from the Passport Control List within 15 days. The judgment also expressed strong displeasure over the conduct of passport and immigration officials and their failure to comply with an earlier court order.
According to the judgment, the court had directed the authorities on January 15, 2026, to decide the petitioner’s application within one week. However, no decision was issued until the petitioner filed a contempt petition and notices were subsequently issued.
The passport authorities later submitted a report before the court, describing it as a “speaking order”. IHC, however, observed that simply placing the title of a speaking order on a document does not make it legally valid. The court noted that the order submitted by the passport authorities did not mention any legal provision, identify the competent authority or cite any relevant rule.
The judgment stated that the manner in which the passport authorities issued the order did not bring it within the category of a genuine speaking order.
Islamabad High Court made it clear that compliance with judicial orders cannot be treated as a mere formality.
The issue gained wider attention as official figures show that 147,842 passengers were offloaded across Pakistan between 2023 and 2025, including 35,270 in 2023, 39,214 in 2024 and 73,358 in 2025. However, the figures cover different categories of offloading. Interior Ministry said 45,356 of those offloaded in 2025 were for technical reasons, including flight cancellations, bad weather, delays, airline decisions and passengers refusing to travel.
