Daily Times

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court has suspended the federal government’s order about deportation of the Pak-Turk schools staffers on Friday.

A division bench headed by Justice Muneeb Akhtar has suspended the interior ministry’s letters issued on Nov 11 and 14, rejecting the extension of the visas of the Turkish staffers and directing them to leave the country before Nov 20, respectively.

It issued notice to the interior secretary and deputy attorney general to respond to the petition by Dec 13.

As many as 34 petitioners, including parents of the children studying in a Pak Turk schools and its staffers, petitioned the high court requesting it to declare the interior ministry’s letters as illegal and unconstitutional.

The court was further requested to restrain the authorities from deporting the Turkish employees of Pak Turk Foundation and their families and to order the extension of their visas.

The petitioners submitted that the government’s decision of not extending their visas at this juncture in an abrupt manner was bound to have devastating consequences for over 11000 students studying in 26 schools across the country.

The students are in the middle of their education session which would complete in March 2017, they added that the decision was likely to affect their education.

“The right of education under Article 25-A of the country’s Constitution is not only placed merely an obligation on the state to provide education but also to ensure that the education provided is of the highest standards and quality.” “The exceptional standard of quality education provided at the schools is largely depended on hard-working Turkish teachers, who ahve helped the students achieve excellence, they added.”

In August, this year, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu had asked the Pakistani authorities to close down the Pak-Turk Schools for their alleged links to US-based cleric Fetullah Gulen.

Pak-Turk Schools, which were launched in 1995, are located in Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Multan, Karachi, Hyderabad, Khairpur, Jamshoro and Quetta.