Name on ECL: Govt view on Musharraf’s travel ban sought

SHC asks attorney general of Pakistan to submit the reply on May 7.

KARACHI:

Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday directed the federal government to file its comments, explaining why it restricted former military ruler Pervez Musharraf – who is facing multiple trials including one under the high-treason act – from traveling abroad.

The SHC bench – comprising Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Shahnawaz Tariq – ordered the Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) Salman Aslam Butt to submit reply of the federal authorities by May 7.

After accepting Musharraf’s plea on Monday, the bench had issued notices to the people nominated as respondents in Musharraf’s application – interior secretary, Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) director general, its director for Sindh and Quaid-e-Azam International Airport’s additional director immigration.

The court had ordered them to file their comments by April 23.

However, on Wednesday, the AGP appeared before the court and requested that he might be allowed time to file the comments – a request which the bench accepted.

Pervez Musharraf, who is currently in Karachi for medical treatment, had moved the court on Monday against the rejection of his request by the interior ministry to remove his name from the Exit Control List (ECL).

Musharraf’s attorney Farogh Naseem had said that his client was implicated in false criminal cases relating to the detention of superior court judges after the 2007 emergency rule, assassinations of Benazir Bhutto and Akbar Bugti and Lal Masjid operation in his absence.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 24^th, 2014.