The model has petitioned the court to remove her name from the ECL. PHOTO: ONLINE
Headed by Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto, the division bench directed them to file their replies by January 15.
Ali, whose arrest over alleged currency smuggling made headlines this March, had moved the high court against the ban on her movement outside the country by the interior ministry. Customs officials had recovered around half-a-million dollars from the model at the Benazir Bhutto International Airport in Islamabad, alleging that she was taking it out of the country illegally.
Ali's lawyer, Sardar Latif Khosa, said on November 20 that the interior ministry secretly placed his client's name on the ECL, as the same was not posted on the ministry's website, which showed ill intentions on part of the federal agencies.
He pointed out that the ministry's decision is not only against the law but also against its own policy, as there is a committee in the ministry tasked with deciding the names to be placed on the ECL and that too on court directions. "Neither the committee decided [the matter], nor did such court orders exist," the lawyer pointed out.
Khosa informed the court that the Federal Board of Revenue's director-general for intelligence and investigation had filed an application with the special judge of the Rawalpindi Customs Court to inquire into the source of income of the petitioner, who was contesting the same in court, as the money admittedly belonged to her and is not proceeds of any crime, which is the essence for bringing a case within the ambit of money laundering.
He maintained that the total earnings of his client stood at Rs500 million, while she had deposited Rs1 million surety with the court to seek bail.
The lawyer claimed that there is no incriminating material available against the model to show that she had acted against the security of the country, adding that mere pendency of any civil or criminal case against any citizen does not make grounds to restrict movement.
The interior ministry's decision to restrict her from travelling abroad is a violation of the fundamental rights, as guaranteed in Articles 9 and 10-A of the Constitution, as well as Section 2 (3) of the ECL Ordinance, 1981, argued the lawyer, pleading to the court to order the removal of Ali's name from the ECL. On the last hearing, the judges had issued notices to the interior secretary and the Customs collector, asking them to furnish their comments explaining the rationale behind putting travel curbs on Ali.
On Wednesday, the judges came to know that the authorities concerned had failed to furnish such comments. Adjourning hearing till January 15, they directed the authorities to furnish comments by the next date of the hearing.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 24th, 2015.
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