Hamza allowed to fly abroad for 10 days

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Wednesday granted one-time permission to leader of the opposition in Punjab Assembly Hamza Shahbaz to fly abroad for a period of 10 days.

Hamza had moved the LHC through Advocate Azam Nazir Tarar against placing his name on the Exit Control List (ECL), arguing that he wanted to go to London to see his ailing wife but his name was included in ECL in an arbitrary manner. He said no opportunity of hearing was afforded to him before the impugned action.

Justice Muhammad Farrukh Irfan took up Hamza’s petition and asked his counsel whether he is involved in “anti-state activities”.

“My client is a patriotic citizen and did not even leave the country during Pervez Musharraf’s dictatorship,” counsel Azam Tarar responded. Hamza told the court, “Last year in November when I wastravelling to Britain, I was told at the airport that my name is on the blacklist.”

“I belong to a political family and the addition of my name to the ECL has been made on the basis of dishonesty,” he added. At this, the court asked Additional Attorney General Ishtiaq A Khan “why the name of an innocent citizen is on the ECL.”

“Does being a public representative means that a person enjoys complete freedom,” retorted the additional attorney general. “These courts are based on the principle that the law is equal for all citizens alike,” the judge said.

The additional attorney general said “a high court judgment itself had set down the rules for the restriction of movement for any citizen”. “If someone has caused monetary losses to the national exchequer they can be stopped from leaving the country,” AAG told the court.

"Remember, those who are in the government today may be sitting in the opposition tomorrow," the judge said during the hearing, adding that the chief justice and SC judges have shown displeasure on numerous occasions over the way NAB is conducting itself. The courts will not let Pakistan become a banana republic, adding favouritism and nepotism played havoc with the country, the judge continued.

"Is the country going to be run by NAB? Should the courts and the parliament stop functioning?" Justice Irfan wondered. NAB has started punishing people on its own without giving them an opportunity of fair trial, he added.

AAG pointed out that former finance minister, Ishaq Dar, had flown to London in prime minister’s plane and never returned to face NAB reference. To it, Justice Khan without naming Pervez Musharraf, observed that even more influential person had gone abroad. Why are you not naming them?, the judge asked AAG.

Following this, the additional attorney general took the objection that the respondents are currently based at Islamabad. So, the instant petition could not be heard at Lahore. However, the court turned down his objection. The court also issued the interior ministry a notice, seeking a reply on the matter within 15 days and granted Hamza permission to travel abroad for 10 days.

The opposition leader had stated that he on November 27, 2018, wanted to travel abroad to see his ailing wife, undergoing medical treatment in the United Kingdom. However, he said, he was informed by the authorities that his name had been included in the list on NAB's advice.

He pleaded that the right to travel and free movement was guaranteed under the Constitution, however, the impugned memorandum issued by the interior ministry was in utter violation of his fundamental rights.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader had made the Ministry of Interior, Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), DG Immigration and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) respondents in the petition. Hamza had further pleaded that “the act of placing his name on the ECL was in violation of Articles 2-A, 4, 9, 15, and 25 of the Constitution”.

“I am the representative of the people of the largest province and have been taking regular part in all the NAB inquiries (against myself). However, pending NAB cases have been made the reason for the inclusion of my name in the ECL,” the petitioner said, requesting the court to direct the ministry to remove his name from the no-fly list and keeping the impugned memorandum for being unlawful aside. In November, NAB had written to the Interior Ministry requesting the placement of Hamza and Salman’s names on the ECL.