Restriction removed: SHC lifts travel ban on Mama Qadeer

Mama Qadeer and Farzana Majeed later challenged the placement of their names on the Exit Control List

KARACHI:

The Sindh High Court (SHC) allowed on Tuesday a petition against travel ban slapped by the federal government on the Voice of Baloch Missing Persons (VoMPB) leaders, Abdul Qadeer Baloch alias Mama Qadeer and Farzana Majeed.

The two-judge SHC bench, comprising Justices Ahmed Ali M Sheikh and Syed Muhammad Farooq Shah, allowed the plea through a short order. A detailed order containing reasons would be issued later.

On March 5, the VoBMP Chairperson Mama Qadeer was stopped at Karachi airport as he was about to fly to New York, where he was due to attend a conference on alleged rights violations in Balochistan and Sindh provinces.

Mama Qadeer and the VoBMP secretary Farzana Majeed later challenged the placement of their names on the Exit Control List (ECL). In their joint petition, the activists informed the court that they were protesting against enforced disappearance of Baloch people and staging protests at the Karachi Press Club.

On Tuesday, the bench inquired from the federal law officer as to why the petitioners’ names were placed on the ECL. The officer argued that their names were put on the ECL because of the petitioners’ alleged indulgence in inciting youth against the state. The officer, however, failed to furnish any explanation when asked whether any case in this regard was pending against the petitioners.

Later, passing a short order, the two-judge bench allowed the petition of Mama Qadeer and Farzana.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 9^th,  2015.