SHC serves notice on MoFA on plea seeking repatriation of Pakistani family detained by Kurdish militia

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has issued notices to the federal foreign affairs ministry, Pakistan’s embassy in Syria and others on a petition seeking repatriation of a Pakistani family detained by a Kurdish militia near Syria.

The petitioner, Moinuddin Khan, submitted in the petition that his son Mohammad Kamran was a petroleum engineer who travelled to Turkey for job along with his wife Quratul Ain on December 21, 2014.

The father said that the oil company appointed him in an oil field near Syria and later, that area became a battleground due to incursions of ISIS and Kurdish militias. He submitted that his son and his family members were detained by Kurd militants who kept them in their refugee camps.

The petitioner submitted that he had come to know that his son Kamran had died during this period and now his daughter-in-law and two grandchildren were being kept at a refugee camp near Syria.

The petitioner submitted that a news item was published in March 2018, which quoted a source from an international NGO working in Syria as saying that around 100 Pakistani families had been detained and around 250 Pakistani citizens were being kept by the Kurdish militia in its camps near Syria.

He submitted that the Kurdish militia through social media had confirmed that his son’s wife Quratul Ain and her two sons Asher and Abdul Rehman were with them and they had asked him to contact the embassy or consulate concerned so that they could be repatriated.

The petitioner’s counsel Usman Farooq submitted that the ministry of foreign affairs was not providing any assistance to the petitioner for repatriating the family of his deceased son. He requested the high court to direct the federal government to make efforts for the family’s repatriation since the detained family belonged to Pakistan and issue emergency travelling documents to them for their safe return.

A division bench of the SHC headed by Justice Omer Sial issued notices to the ministry of foreign affairs, Pakistan’s embassy in Syria and others and called their comments on November 27.