Murder case: Ayyan’s name put on no-fly list again

Ayyan Ali booked again

KARACHI: The interior ministry authorities informed the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday that the name of model Ayyan Ali was placed on the Exit Control List (ECL) following her nomination in a Customs inspector's murder case.

This was submitted in a report filed on behalf of the interior secretary, Muhammad Arif Khan, before a division bench, which was hearing the model's second contempt petition against the interior and immigration authorities.

During Friday's proceedings, additional attorney-general Salman Talibuddin filed the interior secretary's report, which stated that Ali's named was included in the ECL in light of the statement given by the deceased inspector's wife. The report stated that Saima Ijaz, the wife of deceased Customs inspector Chaudhry Ijaz, had recorded her statement to the Rawalpindi police, alleging that the model was involved in her husband's murder. Therefore, the secretary maintained, Ali's name was added to the ECL after its exclusion in compliance of the SHC's earlier order.

In another report, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) authorities informed the court that the agency had nothing to do with the inclusion or exclusion of the name of the petitioner in the ECL. It is the interior ministry that decides inclusion of names on the ECL while the FIA's role is to ensure compliance with such decisions, it added.

The report further stated that Ayyan was barred from taking a United Arab Emirates-bound flight from Karachi airport on June 15 in compliance with the interior ministry's memorandum. Therefore, the FIA had nothing to do with the matter beyond that. Taking the interior ministry and FIA's report on record, the SHC bench directed the lawyer for the petitioner to file a counter-affidavit/rejoinder, if any, by August 5.

Case history

On June 2, the court had, for the second time, quashed the interior ministry's memorandum regarding placement of Ali's name on the ECL and had directed the interior ministry to immediately strike her name off the list. However, she was barred by immigration authorities at the Karachi airport to board a private plane, owing to her name still being on the list despite the interior secretary having informed the court that her name had been removed and there was no legal impediment to her travelling abroad.

The petitioner had alleged that alleged contemnors, including secretary interior, had given an undertaking to the court and claimed that there were no legal impediments. Therefore, she requested that the court take action against the contemnors.

Ali, now on bail, was facing a currency smuggling case in the Rawalpindi Customs Court. She was arrested by the Customs authorities at Islamabad airport on March 14, last year, after US$506,800 were recovered from her luggage. According to the prosecution, she was trying to smuggle the money from Pakistan to Dubai.

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