During his international journey, the son of an LHC judge requested protocol from MoFA.
ISLAMABAD: After being asked to handle protocol for the son of a top judge while the latter traveled abroad, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs(MOFA) is in a pickle. Although such preferential treatment is prohibited by protocol, the ministry has been urged to take the necessary action.
Syed Muhammad Ali, the son of Justice Ali Baqar Najafi of the Lahore High Court, has received the protocol request. Muhammad Ali wants to visit the US; thus, it has been asked that he be treated with respect both during the Abu Dhabi immigration process and when he lands at New York City’s airport, where the embassy employees will pick him up and take him to his hotel. On his return to Pakistan, the same procedure has to be followed.
“It is respectfully submitted that Hon’ble Mr. Justice Ali Baqar Najafi, Judge, Lahore High Court, desires the provision of protocol facilities to Mr. Syed Muhammad Ali, son of his lordship at Abu Dhabi [airport] and John F Kennedy International [airport],” reads the letter sent by the senior additional registrar of the LHC’s Rawalpindi bench, which handles cases involving the federal government.
Muhammad Iram Ayaz, a district and session judge who also serves as a senior extra registrar, is the author of the letter. Also disclosed is Muhammad Ali’s visit schedule. The directives to the MoFA solely address Abu Dhabi and New York; it appears that the police/FIA will handle protocol on the Pakistan side. The letter also includes copies for the foreign secretary, the ambassador of Pakistan to the United Arab Emirates, and the general consul in New York.
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In addition, the letter requests that additional international protocol services be given to Mr. Syed Muhammad Ali, the son of his lordship, in accordance with the previously mentioned schedule program. “I shall be highly grateful, if necessary, for the protocol facilities at Abu Dhabi International Airport and John F Kennedy International Airport, New York, for the fast process of immigration briefing, along with facilities of conveyance from John F Kennedy International to the address (mentioned),” it states. In case the MoFA staff needs more information, the letter also includes a contact person’s mobile phone number from the LHC staff.
The MoFA is only permitted to assist judges when they are traveling overseas on business. When they are on private visits, there is no clause permitting them to do this, much less make accommodations for their relatives. The federal cabinet gave its blessing to the regulations in this regard in 2014. The protocol division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), which oversees protocol matters, wrote to the high courts with the following directive: “Pakistan’s missions abroad provide all appropriate facilitation to the Honourable Judges of the High Courts and the Supreme Court on their official visits to foreign countries.”
But, as the letter says, there are no explicit regulations or procedures in place by the ministry regarding the supply of protocol services to judges traveling overseas in their personal roles. The Cabinet Division, which is the curator and author of such rules and regulations, was mentioned in this context.
A copy of the Cabinet Division’s letter is enclosed for your review. It continues, “The Cabinet Division has noted that its policies and instructions regarding official foreign visits by dignitaries and government officials do not provide for protocol facilities for the Honourable Judges during their visits abroad undertaken in a private capacity.”
