LAHORE - The Lahore High Court on Wednesday ordered the interior ministry to remove the name of Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly Hamza Shahbaz from the Exit Control List (ECL) for 10 days, allowing him to travel abroad.
A day earlier, the PML-N leader had filed a petition in the LHC seeking order for the removal of his name from the no-fly list while the petition was fixed for yesterday before Justice Farrukh Irfan Khan.
Hamza is facing an inquiry by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) over the possession of assets beyond means. He, along with his father Shehbaz Sharif and others, has also been nominated as accused in the Ramzan Sugar Mills reference.
His name was placed on the ECL at the request of the accountability watchdog which advised the interior ministry to take this step on grounds that he might flee the country like his brother Salman Shehbaz, who has already gone abroad.
Filed through his counsel Azam Nazir Tarar, Hamza’s petition stated that the interior ministry had placed his name on the ECL in an arbitrary manner as no notice was issued to him before the action.
He stated that he intended to travel abroad on November 27, 2018 to inquire after his wife’s health in the United Kingdom but was told by the authorities that his name had been placed on the ECL on NAB’s asking, he further said.
At this, the court asked the additional attorney general why an innocent citizen’s name had been placed on the ECL.
The court during the hearing asked the opposition leader’s counsel whether Hamza was involved in anti-state activities. His counsel replied that his client was a patriotic citizen and did not even leave the country during former president Pervez Musharraf’s tenure.
Hamza contended that the Constitution guarantees every citizen right to free movement and travel while memorandum issued by the interior ministry was in utter violation of his fundamental rights.
He pleaded that a bare perusal of the ministry’s memorandum shows that it had been issued in an unfair exercise of executive powers and fails to give any valid reason.
He added that the interior ministry’s act of including his name in the no-fly list is violation of Articles 2-A, 4, 9, 15, and 25 of the Constitution.
After hearing the arguments, the court gave him one-time permission to travel abroad and ordered the authorities to remove his name from the list for 10 days.
In his petition, the PML-N leader had made the interior ministry, Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), DG Immigration and the NAB respondents.
Later, the court adjourned the hearing and sought a reply from the federal government within 15 days.