IHC suspends no-fly list ban on Gill, Akbar

Court also orders removal of names of three bureaucrats from PNIL

ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad High Court on Tuesday suspended the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) notification of a flight ban on former PM aides Shahbaz Gill and Mirza Shahzad Akbar.

The two PTI leaders had approached the IHC earlier in the day, requesting the high court to lift the ban.

Later, the IHC also suspended the ban on three other persons – former principal secretary Azam Khan, Imran's ex-focal person on digital media Dr Arslan Khalid, and Mohammad Nafees Gohar.

The court noted that according to the petitioners, their names were placed on the Provisional National Identification List (PNIL) after the no-confidence vote against former premier Imran Khan. They argued that only those involved in heinous crimes could be placed on the list.

The IHC issued a notification to the interior secretary and FIA director general, ordering them to reveal name of the authority, which had directed that the petitioners’ names be placed on the no-fly list.

PTI leaders Gill and Akbar had filed petitions in the IHC against their names being added to the FIA's PNIL.

The petition maintained that there was no case or charges against the leaders; therefore, the ban on them travelling abroad was against the law.

They further requested the court to lift the ban against them.

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Shahzad Akbar, the former PM aide on accountability, asked the court to summon the FIA and inquire them about who gave their names for placing them on the no-fly list as there was no cabinet or government in place right now.

Later talking to the media, Akbar maintained that action had already been started by the “imported government” against the PTI members.

“There must be a case or a requesting agency responsible for placing the PTI leaders’ names on the list. The FIA director general must reveal the name of person who placed this order,” he added.

“We are standing with our leader Imran Khan. I am not even an overseas Pakistani.”

Talking to the media, Gill claimed that his name and those of his colleagues were added to the no-fly list while members of the National Assembly were being “bought and sold at the behest of the US”.

He maintained that adding people’s names to the list without charges of corruption against them was contempt towards “honest” individuals.

Six prominent figures in the former PTI government, including three bureaucrats and former advisers – were put on the no-fly list by the FIA to prevent them from leaving the country.

They included Azam Khan, the principal secretary to former PM Imran; former aides to the prime minister Shahbaz Gill and Mirza Shahzad Akbar; FIA Punjab Director Muhammad Rizwan; former Anti-Corruption Punjab director general Gohar Nafees; and PTI’s social media team member Arslan Khalid.