Shahzad Akbar off to Dubai as name removed from ECL

ISLAMABAD: Former adviser to PM on accountability and interior Shahzad Akbar abruptly departed for Dubai last night after his name was removed from the Exit Control List (ECL) on the orders of the Islamabad High Court.

Sources privy to the matter said that Akbar departed for Dubai via a foreign airline at 3:10am on Sunday. After reaching Dubai, Akbar will move to London, the sources added. On April 12, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had suspended the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) notification of a flight ban on six PTI leaders. Earlier, former PM aides Shahbaz Gill and Shahzad Akbar had approached the IHC, requesting the high court to dismiss the ban.

Later, IHC's Chief Justice Athar Minallah suspended the ban against former principal secretary Azam Khan, Imran's ex-focal person on digital media Dr Arslan Khalid and Mohammad Nafees Gohar.

The IHC had issued a notification to the interior secretary and the director-general of FIA, and further ordered them to reveal the authority under which the petitioners’ names had been placed on the ‘stoplist’. Justice Minallah had further demanded the FIA provide proof that this action wasn't an act of revenge against ex-PM Imran Khan's aides.

On last Sunday, the FIA placed the names of six key aides of former PM Imran Khan on a ‘stoplist’. The move was taken after PTI Chairman Imran Khan was removed from office through a no-confidence motion in the National Assembly, making him the first premier to be ousted through the move.