Kathmandu, September 24:

The Supreme Court today directed the government to promulgate an Act to address the refugees’ problems.

A division bench of judges Sharada Prasad Pundit and Bala Ram KC issued the verdict responding to a habeas corpus petition seeking the release of four Pakistani nationals — Usman Javed, Kaishif Mehomood, Meh-mood Rasid and Memhood Rasid. The bench also directed the government not to deport them to Pakistan, where their life is in threat as stated by the United Nation’s High Commissioners for Refugees (UNHCR) Nepal.

Stating that the 10-year imprisonment slapped by the Department of Immigration on the four refugees is in violation of the law, the bench directed the government to reduce their jail term. “The refugees must be punished because they violated domestic law,” the bench stated. According to the habeas corpus petition, the four Pakistanis visited Nepal with Pakistani passports in 2005 after the Pakistani government suppressed them. Advocates Hari Phuyal and Prakash Mani Sharma have pleaded on behalf of the four.