Islamabad High Court (IHC) Tuesday reserved judgement on the petition of Syed Zulfiqar Abbas Bukhari, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development who seeks removal of his name from the Exit Control List (ECL).
A division bench of IHC comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani heard the case. Zulfi Bukhari has filed a petition through his counsel Advocate Sikandar Bashir and had invoked the IHC jurisdiction for removal of his name from no-fly list.
During the proceedings, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) submitted a list of documents regarding Bukhari's alleged illegal assets.
At this, Justice Aamer Farooq asked the NAB it seems that Bukhari did not give them any information. To which the NAB investigator replied, "Yes, we did not get any information."
The court also questioned why the NAB had permitted Bukhari to go abroad. Justice Farooq observed that by allowing Zulfi Bukhari to go abroad once, it opposed its own stance.
A representative of the Interior Ministry also stated in the court that a summary was sent to the federal cabinet regarding NAB's recommendation to give Bukhari permission to travel abroad once. Upon that, Justice Kayani remarked that NAB does not want to keep Bukhari's name on the ECL.
NAB Special Prosecutor Imran Shafique said it is not like that, as they have only recommended removing [his] name once. Following the conclusion of the arguments, the court reserved its verdict in this matter.
Chairman National Accountability Bureau (NAB), federal interior secretary, director general (DG) Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and others were made respondents in the petition.
Bukhari stated in his plea that placing his name on the ECL was violation of human rights. 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.
The federal interior ministry had placed Bukhari's name on the ECL in response to NAB's request on August 04. The NAB is probing allegations against Bukhari for having assets beyond his known sources of income. He is also accused of owning offshore companies in the British Virgin Island.
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.
The petitioner stated that he has been cooperating with the Bureau in connection with its inquiry against him, yet his name is 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. He said 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.