ISLAMABAD - A judge of the Islamabad High Court Justice Athar Minallah Monday recused himself from the hearing of a petition of a social worker Gulalai Ismail seeking removal of her name from the exit control list (ECL).
A single bench of IHC comprising Justice Athar Minallah conducted hearing of the petition moved by the social worker against the secretary interior for placing her name on the ECL and sent the case to IHC Chief Justice Justice Muhammad Anwar Khan Kasi to fix the petition before some other bench.
The petitioner had moved the petition through her counsel advocate Suleman and sought removal of her name from the no-fly list. The court had already issued notices to interior secretary, Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Director General and Immigration Director General.
Gulalai Ismail was taken into custody by FIA on October 12 when she returned from the UK.
After the arrest, the interior ministry had entered her name in the ECL.
On the previous hearing, the IHC bench had issued notices to the secretary interior and others to submit their reply for placing social activist Gulalai Ismail’s name on the ECL.
During the hearing, Justice Athar Minallah directed secretary interior to send the ministry official who had knowledge about the issue and could assist the court.
Gulalai’s lawyer contended before the court that putting the name of his client on the ECL is totally illegal and in violation of basic human rights. He requested the court to issue orders to the concerned authorities to return travel documents and passport of his client.
Her counsel informed the bench that his client is working on human rights since 2009. He said that the FIA arrested Gulalai on October 12 when she landed in Pakistan after her return from UK. She was later released on bail.
He added that Gulalai was released from the FIA headquarters in Islamabad but her passport was withheld by the FIA officials.