Plea seeking names of Nawaz, Maryam on ECL withdrawn

Another petition seeks information on education funds granted by former US first lady

LAHORE: A petition, seeking an order to put the names of deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz on the Exit Control List (ECL), was withdrawn after the Lahore High Court Registrar Office objected to it.

Petitioner Syed Iqtidar Haider moved the LHC to put the names of Nawaz and his daughter Maryam on the ECL on a plea that the accused were facing corruption cases in an accountability court and they might escape from the country.

He implored that the former PM and his daughter hid the truth and their statements were contrary to the facts and ground realities. He contended the accountability court was hearing corruption cases against the accused. He requested the court that their names be put on the ECL so that they could not leave the country.



However, the LHC registrar office objected to the petition upon which the petitioner withdrew it.

Meanwhile, Justice Abid Aziz Sheikh of the Lahore High Court (LHC), on Friday, dismissed a petition, as being ‘non-maintainable’. It was filed to seek information about the grants which the then US first lady Michelle Obama had awarded for the education of Pakistani girls.

Justice Sheikh directed the petitioner to contact the department concerned to get information under the Right to Information Act.

Petitioner Syed Iqtidar Haider had filed a petition that the deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz had visited the USA in 2015 where then president Obama’s wife met with Maryam. Obama’s wife announced give aid for the education of Pakistani girls. The petitioner raised an objection that no one could determine how much aid was given for the girls. He said it was the responsibility of the government to give information about the matter under the Constitution, but it failed to do so.

However, the judge dismissed the petition with orders that the department concerned be contacted for the relevant information.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 19^th, 2018.