After ECL repreive, Musharraf to request govt for early international travel

Musharraf to submit letter to the interior ministry on Friday to request his travel at the earliest.

ISLAMABAD: With the Sindh High Court striking his name off the Exit Control List (ECL) earlier on Thursday, The Express Tribune has learnt that former president Pervez Musharraf is preparing to submit a request to the interior ministry on Friday to allow him to travel abroad at the earliest.

On Thursday, the SHC had ruled that the former president’s name should be removed from the ECL. However, the two-member bench of the SHC has suspended this order for around two weeks giving the federal government time to appeal against the decision before the Supreme Court.

The order will be enforced in 15 days in case the government fails to make an appeal by then.

Musharraf’s Islamabad based counsel Chaudhry Faisal Hussain told The Express Tribune on Thursday that his client has sent him a letter from Karachi that will be submitted to secretary interior on Friday. In the letter, Musharraf will request the ministry to allow him to travel abroad at the earliest.

“Fair play demands that federal government may permit me to travel abroad, considering that my mother is seriously ill in the UAE and her condition is further deteriorating (medical certificate attached). Also the doctors have confirmed that the fracture in my own backbone is treatable in Pakistan,” Musharraf says in his letter. A copy of this letter is available with The Express Tribune.



Musharraf further contends that the SHC’s order has clearly interpreted that the Supreme Court’s April 8, 2013 order related to the ECL was interlocutory in nature has not survived after the top court’s final order on July 3, 2013. “This interpretation is also with the line order of the Special Court dated March 31, 2014, which has attained finality as no appeal there against has been proffered.”

The letter further says that the order of high court was expressed to be self-executory in nature and its operation has been suspended for 15 days. “Now there is no impediment with regard to interpretation the two orders of the Supreme Court.”

Musharraf further argued that it will not only be fair but will be in spirit that the federal government should allow the paragraph 40 of the judgment.

Para 40 of the judgment  reads: “The Memorandum No 12/74/2013-ECL dated 5th April 2013 placing the name of General (retired) Pervez Musharraf on Exit Control List (ECL) is struck down.”

Meanwhile, Musharraf has also attached the medical certificate of her mother, which says, “Zohra Musharraf’s medical condition has become worse especially her heart and respiratory failure becoming more unstable. She needs prolong oxygen thereby and close monitoring of vital signs with urgent response to any complication.”