Stopped from flying to Dubai, Ayyan moves SC

ISLAMABAD: Supermodel Ayyan Ali has again approached the Supreme Court (SC) against Interior Ministry’s officials for not allowing her to leave the country despite her name being removed from the Exit Control List (ECL).

Ayyan, while moving a miscellaneous application on Friday in an earlier filed contempt petition, alleged that the Ministry of Interior, Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and Customs officials stopped her from leaving for Dubai at the airport.



She made FIA Director General Muhammad Amjad, Passport and Immigration Director General Usman Iftikhar Bajwa, Federal Board of Revenue Chairman Nisar Muhammad Khan and Collector Customs Muhammad Ali Raza as respondents besides secretary and additional secretary Ministry of Interior. A divisional bench of the SC, headed by Justice Ejaz Afzal, would hear her petition on Monday.

The SC on April 13 upheld the Sindh High Court’s judgment to remove the model’s name from the ECL. The apex court’s judgment, however, said: “We don’t feel inclined to recall and rescind the relief granted to the respondent (Ayyan) by the high court on this score at this stage, when we don’t see any tenable ground for prohibiting the movement of the respondent, all the same we would not approve of bypassing a forum provided by law.”



In her petition, the model explained that the officials defied the constitution, law and the superior courts’ orders. “Everyone forthrightly facilitated General (retd) Pervez Musharraf from travelling abroad despite the pending serious offences against him, while the applicant was obstructed and deception and fraud placed upon her,” the model stated.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 23^rd,  2016.