PESHAWAR – The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday intervened to halt what it termed a potentially unlawful attempt by Bajaur district officials to revoke the citizenship of Pakistani nationals.
The bench issuesd stay order on the cancellation of national identity cards and subsequent deportation.
The case, filed by Syed Qasim and others, has brought to light a troubling trend in the region: the use of bureaucratic discretion to question the nationality of long-standing citizens based on outdated documents and disputed records. The petitioners maintain they are Pakistani by birth, citing decades-old property records and valid national identity cards held by their fathers and grandfathers.
Arguing before a bench comprising Justice Waqar Ahmad and Justice Dr Khurshid Iqbal, Supreme Court Advocate Saifullah Mohib Kakakhel accused local administrators—including the Assistant Commissioner and Additional Deputy Commissioner—of exceeding their mandate. He told the court that rather than settling a property dispute on legal grounds, the officials leaned on the presence of ‘ration passes’—historically issued to Afghan refugees and vulnerable populations—as evidence to declare the petitioners as non-citizens.
“This is not just a misjudgment—it is a dangerous misuse of authority,” Kakakhel said. “A revenue officer’s job is to mediate land disputes, not to unilaterally question someone’s nationality.”
The court responded swiftly, staying any action on the deportation orders and summoning replies from the Ministry of Interior, the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), and Bajaur’s administrative heads.
Legal observers say the case could set a powerful precedent in Pakistan’s newly tribal tribal districts, where questions of identity, property, and state authority often overlap in legally murky terrain.
