SC lets FIA reopen inquiry into officers linked to Greek boat tragedy

The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to reopen a departmental inquiry against officials allegedly linked to the 2023 Greek migrant boat tragedy, but refused to undo the reinstatement of 40 officers whom the agency had dismissed, Dawn reported.

What the court decided

A three-judge bench headed by Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar heard appeals filed by the Director General FIA against an April 14 order of the Federal Service Tribunal (FST). The tribunal had reinstated the dismissed officers. The court dismissed the FIA’s appeal, so the reinstatement stands.

At the same time, it sent the matter back to the agency. The FIA may start a fresh inquiry, “if they deem it fit”, in accordance with the law, against officers for whom evidence is on the record, after giving each of them an opportunity to be heard. In practice, the officers keep their jobs for now, and the FIA has to begin the process again and follow the rules properly if it wants to act against them.

The FIA’s argument

After the tragedy, the FIA penalised and dismissed 40 officers who it said had facilitated the smuggling of vulnerable people. Deputy Attorney General Raja Shafqat Abbasi, appearing for the agency, told the court that the tribunal had overturned the dismissals “merely” on technical and procedural grounds, such as failure to follow procedure and denial of a chance to cross-examine.

He argued that the officers posted at the Lahore, Karachi and Multan airports at the time had a statutory duty to check tickets, passports, visas and the purpose of travel, and that Libya was a war-torn country rather than a tourist destination. They should have asked why more than 286 people were flying to Libya from different airports, he said. In his submission there was at least gross omission and negligence amounting to direct facilitation, which allowed smugglers to move citizens from Pakistan to Libya and on to Europe by sea. He told the court that 155 Pakistanis died, and that the case had damaged Pakistan’s image abroad.

Abbasi also argued that, if there was a procedural lapse, the officers were not entitled to a “clean chit” of reinstatement. At most, he said, the FIA should be given a fresh chance to hold an inquiry with a proper hearing and cross-examination.

The reports we have seen do not carry the officers’ side of the argument or say what reasons the tribunal gave beyond those described by the FIA.

Background

The tragedy happened in June 2023, when a boat that had left Libya capsized off the coast of Greece. The FIA said afterwards that officers at Pakistani airports had helped human smugglers move vulnerable people abroad, and it dismissed 40 of them. The tribunal and now the Supreme Court have looked at how that was done, not at whether the allegations are true.

Why it matters

The ruling turns on process, not on guilt: the court has said the dismissals cannot stand as they were made, and that the FIA may try again if it follows the law. For the families of those who died, the question is whether anyone is held accountable for the failures at the airports that let hundreds of people leave for Libya. What to watch is whether the agency starts a new inquiry and gives the officers a hearing, and whether it can prove the allegations of facilitation when they are tested by cross-examination.

This article draws on reporting by Dawn.