ISLAMABAD - The Supreme Court allowed Pakistan People’s Party former senator Dr Asim Hussain to go abroad for medical treatment.
On August 29, a three-judge SC bench headed by Justice Dost Muhammad Khan allowed Dr Hussain to go abroad. The bench, however, had maintained that the authorities were at liberty to re-enter his name on the exit control list (ECL) upon his arrival after the surgery.
Dr Hussain returned to the country on October 6 after getting medical treatment in London. His name was again placed on the ECL and last month he had filed a petition in the apex court, pleading to remove his name from the ECL and allow him to go abroad for a follow-up medical check.
On Thursday, a two-member bench comprising Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Qazi Faez Isa heard the former senator’s petition.
Justice Faez questioned why the standard of justice was not the same for all citizens. Without taking the name of former president Pervez Musharraf, the judge said, “The accused against whom there are serious cases like high treason is sitting abroad and performing big tasks. Whether the government has taken any step to bring such people from abroad”.
The petitioner’s counsel Sardar Latif Khosa said that his client had gone abroad with the permission of the apex court and he returned to the country as per his commitment. However, he said, his name was again placed on the ECL.
Dr Hussain, who also served as minister for petroleum and close friend of former president Asif Ali Zardari, was booked on a complaint of Rangers for allegedly treating and harbouring suspected terrorists in his North Nazimabad and Clifton hospitals at the behest of some MQM and PPP leaders.
A corruption references had also been filed against the former minister by the National Accountability Bureau for allegedly causing massive losses to the national exchequer through corrupt practices. His name was placed on the ECL in November 2015 following the corruption charges against him.