SHC gets two weeks to decide Ayyan’s plea

Top court says pendency not grounds enough to put name on ECL

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday gave the Sindh High Court two weeks to decide on Ayyan Ali’s third writ petition against the placing of her name on the Exit Control List (ECL).

The apex court also observed that Ayyan’s case was given ‘unnecessary’ publicity and wondered why the government went for ‘soft targets’, stating that mere pendency of a criminal case was not ground enough to place the name of an accused on the ECL.  The three-member judge bench, headed by Justice Azmat Saeed Sheikh, asked the SHC not to pass an order on the contempt petition filed by Ayyan Ali against the federation for placing her name on the no-fly list.

The bench served notices on the Punjab prosecutor-general and investigative officer of Warris Khan Police Station, Rawalpindi, regarding the murder of Ejaz Mehmood, a Customs officer. The widow of the deceased had filed a petition in the Supreme Court, requesting it to direct the authorities not to remove Ayyan’s name from ECL.

Additional Advocate-General Rana Waqar wondered whether the high court could pass an order requiring the authority to take prior approval from the court for placing Ayyan’s name on ECL.

He informed the court that Ayyan’s name was placed on the ECL in response to a request by the Punjab Home Department after she was nominated in an FIR launched in Customs Inspector Chuahdry Ejaz Mahmood’s murder case.

He said that under the rules, the SC had no jurisdiction to hear the contempt plea against SHC’s judgment.

Latif Khosa, the counsel for the model, said that his client was consistently being obstructed and deception and fraud was being perpetrated against her. He also stated that his client was receiving threats to her life as well.

Khosa argued that freedom of movement was the fundamental right of every citizen, but his client was not being allowed to travel abroad without due cause.

He argued that while the son of the (SHC) chief justice had been kidnapped and incidents of terrorism were happening in the state, but government was harassing a 23-year-old girl. “She cannot even meet her mother,” he said.

Referring to the murder of the customs inspector, Khosa said that at the time of the commission of the crime, his client was in jail, and she was not nominated in the FIR therefore, allegations of murder against her were baseless, mala fide and motivated.

He said that the SC had already declared that movement of a person could not be restricted merely on allegation of criminal offence.

Justice Dost Muhammad Khan observed that the case had been given unnecessary publicity. Justice Azmat also remarked that the interior ministry should once and for all inform cases in which Ayan’s name was required to be placed on ECL.

The court later adjourned the case indefinitely.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 1^st, 2016.