Authorities granted time to file comments on Dr Asim's petition

PPP leader seeks removal of name from ECL to obtain medical treatment abroad

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) allowed two-week time on Thursday to the federal interior ministry and others on a petition filed by Dr Asim Hussain, the president of the Pakistan Peoples Party's (PPP) Karachi division and a close aide of former president Asif Ali Zardari, seeking removal of his name from the Exit Control List (ECL) to travel abroad for medical treatment.



A two-judge bench, headed by Justice Muhammad Junaid Ghaffar, fixed after two weeks a petition filed by the ailing PPP leader, who was released from the sub-jail set up in the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre on March 31.

The petitioner said nine medical boards had approved his undergoing spinal surgery abroad, as the treatment facility was not available in the country. Therefore, he pleaded the court to order the interior ministry to take his name off the ECL so that he could travel abroad for treatment.



Dr Asim, a former petroleum adviser, was taken into 'preventive detention' for three months by the Rangers in August 2015 and later faced trial in cases relating to treatment and harbouring of terrorists at his private health facilities in Karachi, as well as Rs462 billion corruption references filed against him by the National Accountability Bureau.