April 17, 2026
By Muhammad Danyal
PESHAWAR
In the wake of the ongoing Afghan refugee repatriation drive, petitions related to Afghan nationals have surged at the Peshawar High Court. Among those seeking legal recourse is Sadia Bibi, a woman who has approached the court seeking the release of her Afghan husband.
Sadia Bibi says her husband was arrested by police two months ago on charges of illegal stay and transferred to jail, after which the management of her household has been thrown into complete disarray. Despite being a Pakistani citizen herself and the daughter of a Pakistani father, she had married an Afghan national.
On her husband’s advice, she also obtained an Afghan refugee card in the hope of accessing rations and other relief facilities — but not only did no benefits materialise, the move only deepened her legal troubles. According to Sadia Bibi, her two young children are suffering in their father’s absence, and she has formally appealed to the court for his release.
Her counsel, Advocate Irfanullah Khalil, explained that the Afghan card had been obtained after fulfilling all legal requirements following the marriage, but that new government directives have since given rise to serious legal complications. The court, at the initial hearing, directed Sadia Bibi to appear before NADRA authorities and have her documents verified.
Sadia Bibi, however, is far from alone in her predicament. A single-member bench of Peshawar High Court, headed by Chief Justice SM Attique Shah, granted bail to a man named Abu Bakar, who claims to be a Pakistani national by descent despite holding an Afghan Citizen Card. While approving the bail, the court directed Abu Bakar to appear at the relevant NADRA service delivery centre within one week of his release, get his Afghan Citizen Card or Proof of Registration (PoR) card cancelled, and obtain the necessary clearance under Section 19 of the Pakistan Citizenship Act, 1951.
The court made it clear that should these steps not be taken within the stipulated period, the state would be at liberty to file a bail cancellation application.
Abu Bakar’s counsel, Advocate Jan Afsar Paindakhel, told the court that his client was a Pakistani national by descent, but had adopted Afghan nationality and obtained the relevant cards in order to earn a livelihood in Afghanistan. According to the lawyer, this decision was taken without fully understanding its legal consequences, and the entire family now faces serious difficulties in obtaining their Computerised National Identity Cards as Pakistani citizens.
At the same hearing, the court also granted bail on humanitarian grounds to another Afghan national, Akhtar Khan, who had been arrested on March 1, 2026, by personnel of Inqilab Police Station, Peshawar, under Section 14 of the Foreigners Act. The court noted that Akhtar Khan is the sole breadwinner of a family comprising his wife and five minor children. In its order, the bench stated that taking into account the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case — particularly the accused’s status as the sole provider for his family — and without expressing any opinion on the merits, the court was inclined to extend the concession of bail purely on humanitarian grounds.
However, the court also directed law enforcement agencies to ensure the immediate and smooth deportation of the accused and his family members from Pakistan.
On the same day, the court also ordered the release on bail of a 16-year-old Afghan refugee who had been arrested on February 28 by personnel of Khazana Police Station, Peshawar, on charges of illegal stay. The court observed that under Section 6(3) of the Juvenile Justice System Act, 2018, bail to a juvenile may be refused only in exceptional circumstances — where the court apprehends that release could bring the juvenile into association with known criminals, expose him to moral, physical or psychological danger, or otherwise defeat the ends of justice.
The bench held that no such reasonable apprehension existed in this case. Nevertheless, the relevant authorities were also directed to take steps for the deportation of the juvenile and his family members.
Legal experts say that following the recent repatriation drive, there has been an extraordinary increase in such petitions at the Peshawar High Court, with dozens of Afghan nationals now approaching the court daily in search of legal protection.
According to official figures, more than 500,000 Afghan nationals have been deported from Pakistan since September 2023, and the repatriation of thousands more has continued through the first quarter of the current year. In these circumstances, numerous families are turning to the courts to secure their futures — and this trend shows no sign of abating.