Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry directed the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) to file an application in the concerned trial court on its plea to place the names of 14 accused in the ephedrine scam on Exit Control List (ECL).
A three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and comprising Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja Justice Tariq Parvez resumed the hearing of a petition filed by the ANF to direct the Ministry of Interior to place the names of 14 accused in the ephedrine case on ECL. The ANF maintained that the Ministry of Interior was not paying heed to its request to place the names of the accused on the ECL.
Addressing Director ANF Brigadier Fahim at the outset of hearing, the Chief Justice said the apex court was not a proper forum to treat an application on inclusion of names in ECL, adding that the matter should be put up before a trial court for remedy. Expressing his dismay over the absence of Interior Secretary Khawaja Siddiq Akbar in the court Justice Khawaja directed the Deputy Attorney General (DAG), Shafi Chandio to ensure Interior Secretary's presence before the bench till rising of the court.
During the last hearing of the case, the bench had ordered Interior Secretary Khawaja Siddiq Akbar to submit a reply to the SC over allegations levelled against him by Muhammad Tanvir, a senior official of the government's drug regulatory body that Akbar had asked him to exonerate former secretary health Khusnood Akhtar Lashari. The Interior Secretary submitted his reply. Later, the bench disposed of the case.