Non-submission of reply by MoD draws IHC’s ire
RECORDER REPORT
ISLAMABAD: Islamabad High Court (IHC) Wednesday expressed annoyance over non-submission of written reply by Ministry of Defense (MoD) in case of removing Zulfi Bukhari’s name from the Exit Control List (ECL) and using Noor Khan Airbase for facilitating the departure of a private person through chartered plane.
A single bench of IHC comprising Justice Aamer Farooq heard the petition wherein the court was requested to initiate proceedings against the officials of the defence and interior ministries over allowing Bukhari to depart from Noor Khan Airbase.
The IHC bench censured the representative of Defense Ministry for not submitting written reply and directed him to submit the same on the next hearing to be held on July 2.
During the hearing, the MoD representative told the court that he was asked on Tuesday night to appear before the court and even the copy of the petition was not provided o him.
Justice Aamer remarked that he should have appeared before the court with the written reply and such delay should not happen in the official work. He added that they should be careful about other respondents because people appear before the court in respect of the law.
The court also asked from the officials of the Interior Ministry why they put the name of Zulfi Bukhari on the blacklist while the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had submitted the application to put his name on Exit Control List (ECL).
The official of Interior Ministry replied that NAB had moved a request for placing Bukhari’s name on the ECL, but that time the relevant subcommittee was dysfunctional so his name had been added to the blacklist.
Later, court adjourned the hearing till July 02 directing the MoD to submit its written response in this regard.
Syed Zulfiqar Bukhari, a British national, has filed a petition in the IHC praying to remove his name from the list. He was briefly stopped from boarding a special flight on a private plane bound for Saudi Arabia from Noor Khan Airbase to perform Umrah with Imran Khan on June 11, but later permitted to travel.
According to the petition, Bukhari is facing an inquiry and the NAB has issued multiple notices to him since Feb this year. However, Bukhari has not joined the inquiry, and upon receiving a third notice stated that since he is a British national, the NAB lacks the jurisdiction to investigate him.
Similarly, another petition moved by a citizen Muhammad Kausar through his counsel Inamul Rahim Advocate cited the federation of Pakistan through the secretary Ministry of Defense, secretary Ministry of Interior and director general Federal Investigation Agency as respondents.
The petitioner stated that on June 11, 2018, Zulfiqar Hussain Bukhari, commonly known as Zulfi Bukhari, accompanied PTI chairman Imran Khan on his way to Saudi Arabia while his (Bukhari) name was on the ECL. Therefore, he was stopped by immigration authorities at Noor Khan Airbase.
He added that the name of Zulfi was placed on the ECL along with other owners of offshore companies in line with the order of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in connection with its probe into the Panama Papers Case and the said action of placing the name of Bukhari on the ECL by the NAB was on the directions of the Supreme Court to take action against all those who owned offshore firms.
