LHC issues contempt notices to foreign secretary over Pakistanis held in UAE

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday issued notices to Foreign Secretary Asim Iftikhar on two contempt petitions over the alleged failure to comply with an earlier court order about two PTI-affiliated Pakistani citizens detained in the United Arab Emirates, Dawn reported.

Justice Sadiq Mehmood Khurram heard the petitions and asked the foreign secretary to reply by October 29.

The earlier order

On September 14, the LHC directed the foreign secretary to process and decide, within 15 days, representations about the detention of the two men, Syed Salman Raza Zaidi and Muhammad Junaid Jahangir.

Barrister Abuzar Salman Niazi, for the petitioners, told the court that the two men were still being denied consular, diplomatic and legal access. He said the families had not been formally told of any decision on their representations, even though a long time had passed, and urged the court to begin contempt proceedings.

Two men, two years

According to the petitions:

• Syed Salman Raza Zaidi went missing from his home in Sharjah on September 27, 2024, and was later taken into custody by UAE authorities. His wife, Faryal Zainab, who filed the petition, says that nearly two years on she still has no clear information about the charges against him, any court proceedings or sentence, or the full court record.
• Muhammad Junaid Jahangir was allegedly detained at Dubai airport on September 24, 2024, as he returned from Saudi Arabia. His father, Muhammad Ibrahim, filed the petition, challenging what he calls the failure of the federal government and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to provide effective consular protection and legal help.

What happens next

The foreign secretary has until October 29 to file his reply. Contempt proceedings are the court’s way of enforcing its own orders: if it finds that an official has wilfully failed to comply, it can proceed against that official personally. At this stage, the court has only issued notices and sought the foreign secretary’s response.

The September 14 order did not decide the men’s cases. It required the foreign secretary to process the families’ representations and reach a decision within 15 days, which the petitioners say has still not happened more than five weeks later.

What the families want

Both petitions ask the court to order that:

• the men be given legal and consular assistance
• their judicial records be obtained from the UAE
• diplomatic steps be taken to bring them back to Pakistan

The counsel said representations about both men had been filed with the foreign secretary but had not been processed.

Why it matters

The families say that without consular access, they cannot find out what their relatives are accused of or whether they have been tried.

The petitions describe both men as affiliated with the PTI. Neither the Foreign Office nor UAE authorities had publicly commented on the cases in the reports.

The case is one of several court battles linked to the PTI this week. The LHC has also summoned the Punjab home secretary over the continued detention of Imran Khan’s sisters, and the hearing in that case is also set for October 28.