GulfAir won't accept return tickets with other airlines?

Recently a circular was seen floating on internet in which Gulf Air instructed its frontline staff not to accept/give boarding pass to customers who do not have a return ticket with Gulf Air. 

Another social media post suggests similar instruction from OmanAir

A copy of the circular below, as tweeted by a twitter user Priyesh Sharma. (images and info taken from this tweet this tweet 

It is not clear if these guidelines are only for passengers from select countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh or worldwide.

Also not clear if it applies to only passengers visiting UAE or those transiting through UAE. The official portal for travel documents- TIMATiC says nothing about this new bizarre rule.

While Gulf air's motive for this rule could be that in case a passenger is deported, all countries need airline which brought that person into the country should take him/her back. If passenger has already bought a return ticket airline's cost of transporting him/her back is covered.

But this is a very low probability- maybe one out of 10000 passengers get deported.

It is usually cheaper to book return ticket on same airline for most of the cases, than booking two separate airline tickets. But many passengers will have genuine reasons not to book return ticket from same airline.

But mandating that all passengers should also buy return ticket from same airline is outlight illegal- there are no regulations anywhere in the world that passengers should return on same airline.

- When we do multi country tour, it is not possible to book same airline if same airline is not serving other destinations we are visiting (Example: India to UAE, UAE to Europe, Europe to America and then America to Bali, Bali to India

- If return ticket is cheaper on another airline for the date/origin/destination of our choice, we are free to book on other airlines

- Some passengers can't book return ticket in advance- those going for studies, work, those going for business without knowing an exact return date etc

- Having return ticket doesn't guarantee 100% that passenger will return on same flight- they can buy another one way ticket, there could be genuine reasons to reschedule return ticket or people may ignore return ticket and overstay in the country- so what exactly this rule is helping?

Apparently Gulf Air subsequently modified their circular, downgrading from "deny boarding if passenger doesn't have return ticket with Gulf Air" to "passengers returning via other airline will be subjected to additional scrutiny"

These airlines haven't issued any press release or update their website with their rules. They are just trying to secretly enforce it on passengers. It could be some fake news/miss communication as well. I have tagged these airlines in my tweet- let me see if they give any reply denying these rules.

Gulf Air is an "also there" airline based out of middle east, offering limited network and services. They are not as cheap as say Fly Dubai or Air Arabia and no match to top 3- Emirates, Etihad, Qatar. 

So this circular isn't helping them much in terms of PR, customer delight and business growth. Let us see how this issue develops over coming months.