KARACHI - The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday issued notices to the interior secretary and the FIA DG to reply till April 23 on a petition seeking removal of former president Pervez Musharraf’s name from the Exit Control List (ECL), remarking, “We cannot give a one-sided decision.”
Barrister Farogh Nasim, counsel for Pervez Musharraf, filed the petition before a two-member bench of the SHC, led by Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, seeking removal of the former dictator’s name from the ECL.
He took the plea that the Special Court, during the course of hearing of the treason case, had maintained that Musharraf had not been arrested and could move freely.
“On the basis of this decision, an application was sent to the interior secretary on April 2 for removal of Musharraf’s name from the ECL, but it was rejected. The court is requested to set aside the Ministry of Interior’s decisions of April 5, 2013, and April 2, 2014, and allow the ex-president to go abroad so that he could visit her ailing mother,” he said. He also requested the court to hold hearing of the petition on emergency basis.
Earlier, talking to media persons, Barrister Farogh Nasim said that on March, 31, 2014, the SC had allowed Musharraf to go abroad for his treatment. The court had remarked that it was the domain of the government to remove the name of Musharraf from the ECL.
To a question on arrival of Pervez Musharraf in Karachi, he said the country was for all and the former president could go anywhere.