Lahore High Court orders protection for Turkish teachers in Lahore


Date posted: October 21, 2017

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday sought records from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) regarding the arrival of a special Turkish plane late on October 13 to take a Turkish teacher back to his home country. The court had stayed the deportation of Mesut Kacmaz of Pak-Turk Schools and Colleges, who was among dozens of Turkish school staffers that had been granted temporary refugee status.

The court also sought detailed replies from the foreign and interior ministries on a contempt petition filed against the reported deportation of teacher and his family. The court further ordered the Lahore police chief to provide protection for all refugee Turkish teachers in the city.

Justice Shams Mehmood Mirza passed the orders on petitions filed against deportation of Turkish teachers affiliated with Pak-Turk Schools and Colleges — Murat Ervan, and Kacmaz and his three family members.

Earlier, petitioner’s counsel Asma Jahangir told the court that opponents of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan were being targeted in Turkey due to political instability there and that his opponents were also being victimised in Pakistan.

The senior lawyer pointed out that all the Turkish nationals in Pakistan enjoyed protection under international agreements, but the families were being deported from Pakistan in violation of court orders, which amounted to contempt of court.

It had been reported that the kidnapped teacher, Mesut Kacmaz, along with his three family members, had been deported to Turkey on October 14 despite the court’s stay over, she told the court, adding that a special Turkish plane had come to take them back.

When Deputy Attorney General Imran Aziz said that the available record showed the family had not been deported, the court sought records from the CAA regarding the arrival of a Turkish plane on October 13-14 to take the Turkish teacher back.

Jehangir also provided a list of Turkish teachers of Pak-Turk Schools and Colleges and requested the court to stay their deportation, fearing they could also be deported. She requested the court to restrain the authorities from harassing them.

The court stayed the possible deportation of the other Turkish teachers and restrained the authorities from harassing them. The court ordered the Lahore city police chief to appoint police at residences of Turkish teachers residing in the Wapda Town area of Lahore.

The petition had originally been filed against the possible deportation of Turkish teacher Kacmaz and his family.

It is alleged that Kacmaz and his three family members were picked up by law-enforcement from their residence in the Wapda Town on September 27 and they would possibly be deported.

 Kings’ friendship?

Talking to the media after the hearing, Jehangir said that the victim family was abducted and taken to Islamabad, where the Turkish police took them away with them. “Eyewitnesses have told us that the victims were crying while Turkish police were dragging them,” she said.

“They tortured them as well,” the lawyer claimed. “Is this a country or a jungle, where anyone can be deported after being abducted because our kings are friends with their kings,” she added.

Showing the passports of the victims, Jehangir asked how they could have left the country with the documents and when their named are already on the ECL.

“We have filed a contempt petition. We will get to the bottom of the issue that who ordered their deportation in violation of court orders after their abduction,” she said. “who is behind their deportation, we need to know and we will not stop until we know that.”

Source: The Express Tribune , October 18, 2017


Related News

Toward an Islamic enlightenment

Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, who has put forward an interpretation of Islam that advocates peace, democracy, secularism (in the sense of freedom of religion and conscience for all), science, education and a market economy, and who has supported interfaith dialogue and mutual understanding and respect for people of different ethnic and religious identities and lifestyles, has been the topic of much curiosity for native as well as foreign observers of Turkey.

UN takes Turkish school as model in Mali

The UN Women’s Mali branch has taken as a model Horizon Turkish School’s Mathematics Olympiad to determine successful primary school students in the country. The Olympiad covered the subject of mathematics under the name of “Mathlogique” held across Mali. This year approximately 3,000 students attended the competition.

Boat carrying Turkish asylum seekers capsizes off Greece, killing 3 children and 3 others

At least 6 people, including 3 children, were killed after a boat carrying Turkish asylum seekers capsized in the Aegean Sea on Sunday.

Turkey-Kurdistan Regional Government ties: How and why did they improve this much?

ABDULLA HAWEZ ABDULLA I remember how relations between the Turkish government and northern Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) used to be. Both sides were ambivalent about how to deal with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), and had to wrangle over the matter. But these thoughts became obsolete after 2009 and transformed into marvelous relations. […]

‘Latest developments increased recognition of Hizmet Movement globally’

Madiambal Diagne who is the editor-in-chief of a leading newspaper, Le Quotidien, in Senegal, stated that conflict between Hizmet Movement and Turkish government has paved way for Hizmet Movement to gain recognition worldwide extensively.

Russia selects finalists for 12th Turkish Olympiad

The elimination round of the Turkish Olympiad in Russia has been held in a prestigious concert hall where around 300 students showed their skills in the categories of poem recitation, singing, reading and writing.

Latest News

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

In Case You Missed It

Lawyers to Trump: Don’t pressure judges in Turkey extradition case

Pillar of Society or Threat to Democracy?

The Dutch Turkish community must speak out about the anti-Gülen violence

Sudan arrests Gülen-linked businessman at Turkey’s request

What does Turkey deserve?

The Hizmet movement, social democracy, the religious left

Panicky parents calmed over Feza Schools closure reports

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News