The Islamabad High Court ordered to remove Prime Minister's Special Assistant on Overseas Pakistanis Syed Zulfiqar Abbas Bukhari's name from the Exit Control List (ECL).
A two-member IHC bench comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani on Wednesday announced the judgement and ordered Ministry of Interior to take out Bukhari's name from the no-fly list. The court had reserved the verdict on December 4, 2018, after NAB Prosecutor Imran Shafiq submitted documents in the court following a probe that was launched against Bukhari.
Syed Zulfiqar Abbas Bukhari, popularly known as Zulfi Bukhari, is a close friend of Prime Minister Imran Khan. He is also facing a case in the Supreme Court where his appointment as the Premier's aide was challenged as he holds dual nationality.
The 14-page IHC judgement set-aside 4th August notification which had placed Zulfi's name on the ECL. The judgement noted; "Admittedly, when name of an individual is placed on ECL, his freedom of movement is curbed and the same is tantamount to violation of fundamental rights and in such state of affairs, the power/authority is to be exercised by the executive sparingly after taking into account relevant facts and circumstances. The referred recommendation is not to be followed by respondent No. 1 i.e. Federation of Pakistan (Ministry of Interior), in a mechanical fashion."
The court said Ministry of Interior while placing name of Zulfi Bukhari on ECL did not apply mind and acted mechanically on the recommendation of the NAB. Even respondent No. 2 (NAB) does not seem to be earnest in the recommendation it made inasmuch as it has granted one-time unconditional permission to the petitioner to travel abroad, whereas in the original recommendation, it is provided that it is apprehended that he might abscond.
The court noted that there is nothing on record to show that the petitioner (Zulfi) has not cooperated with respondent No. 2. The Ministry of Interior while issuing the impugned memorandum acted without application of mind.
The Interior Ministry had placed Bukhari's name on ECL on August 04, 2018 upon the National Accountability Bureau's request after he was accused of owning offshore companies in the British Virgin Islands, and of owning assets beyond his known sources of income.
Bukhari challenged that order in the IHC. In his petition he submitted that placing his name in the Exist Control List (ECL) was violation of human right and he urged the court to suspend notification of the Interior Ministry in the matter.
He requested the court to issue directives to the concerned authorities to return his travelling documents. In his petition, Zulfi Bukhari contended that he is a British citizen of Pakistani origin and is currently living in Islamabad while his spouse and children are domiciled in the UK where his business interests are managed from.
The petitioner stated that he had been cooperating with the Bureau in connection with its inquiry against him but still his name was placed on the no-fly-list.
He argued that Section 3 of the Exit from Pakistan (Control) Ordinance, 1981, provides for a right of review for any order made by the federal government, however, such a review only creates an illusory remedy.
Zulfi said that he filed a representation and review petition and despite passage of about two months, the review petition of the petitioner has neither been put up for the cabinet, nor decision has been taken thereon by the federal government. Therefore, he prayed to the court to direct the interior ministry to remove his name from the ECL.
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