ISLAMABAD (The Thursday Times) — The Supreme Court has upheld the reinstatement of 40 Federal Investigation Agency officers sacked over the 2023 migrant boat disaster off Greece, but cleared the agency to hold a fresh inquiry against those with evidence against them on the record.
A three-judge bench headed by Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar rejected on Wednesday the FIA’s appeal against an April 14 Federal Service Tribunal ruling that had overturned the dismissals, Dawn reported. The FIA had fired the officers on charges that they helped human smugglers move Pakistanis out of the country towards Europe.
‘Not a tourist destination’
Arguing for the FIA, Deputy Attorney General Raja Shafqat Abbasi said the tribunal had set the dismissals aside on technical grounds, such as procedural lapses and a lack of opportunity for cross-examination. Officers posted at the Lahore, Karachi and Multan airports had a duty to scrutinise the tickets, passports and visas of the more than 286 people travelling to Libya, he said, noting that Libya was “a war-torn country rather than a tourist destination”.
Their failure amounted to “at least gross omission and negligence”, he said, which allowed smugglers to traffic Pakistanis from Libya towards Europe by sea, leading to the deaths of 155 Pakistanis and seriously damaging the country’s image. Even if the inquiry had procedural flaws, he argued, the officers were not entitled to a “clean chit”.
The court referred the matter back to the FIA to start a fresh inquiry, if it sees fit, against officials for whom there is evidence on the record, after giving them a hearing.
Deadliest crossing
The overcrowded fishing boat that sank off Pylos in June 2023 was one of the deadliest migrant disasters in the Mediterranean, with hundreds of people feared drowned, many of them Pakistani. Pakistan has since arrested dozens of suspected smugglers, issued Interpol red notices and dismissed officials over a string of boat disasters.
