Pakistan Supreme Court’s Justice Ayesha A. Malik on Friday observed that Pakistan was bound by the United Nations conventions that protected the rights of refugees.

She passed these remarks as a three-member bench of the apex court took up a petition seeking restraining orders against the caretaker government’s decision to deport illegal Afghan nationals, Dawn newspaper reported.

As the proceedings commenced Friday, the court remarked that the deportation of illegal Afghan citizens was also a matter of “constitutional interpretation” and directed the Attorney General for Pakistan to assist the bench on the same.

The court issued notices to the federal government, the foreign ministry, apex committee — that had taken the decision to expel Afghans under the leadership of the caretaker prime minister and army chief — and the AGP.

In November, the government initiated a nationwide campaign to deport illegal foreign nationals, the majority of whom are Afghans.

Of more than four million Afghans living in Pakistan, the government estimates 1.7 million are undocumented. Around 400,000 Afghans have returned since Pakistan announced plans to deport illegal refugees.

Last month, Pakistani politicians and rights activists had approached the top court to declare the decision of mass deportation of Afghans as illegal, unconstitutional and against the fundamental rights.

One of the petitioners, former PPP senator Farhatullah Babar, contended that the interim government did not have the mandate to deport illegal Afghan citizens. He highlighted that the Afghans being expelled had already applied for political asylum.

“Afghan citizens are being treated inhumanely by the government of Pakistan,” Babar further stated, reiterating that the caretakers did not have constitutional authority to make a final decision on policy-related matters.