A single bench of the IHC comprising Justice Aamer Farooq issued notices to the respondents in the petition of Syed Zulfiqar Bukhari seeking removal of his name from the ECL. The bench directed the respondent to submit his written reply on the next hearing to be held on June 27.
Syed Zulfiqar Bukhari, a British national, moved the court through his counsel Sikandar Bashir Mohmand Advocate and prayed to the court to remove his name from the list. During the hearing, the bench expressed annoyance on how Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman's associate Zulfi Bukhari managed to travel abroad while his name was on the black list.
Bukhari 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 he was permitted to travel.
According to the petition, Bukhari is facing an inquiry and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has issued multiple notices to him since February this year. However, Bukhari has not joined the inquiry, and ? upon receiving a third notice ? stated that since he is a British national, NAB lacks the jurisdiction to investigate him. Upon the request of NAB Deputy Prosecutor General Sardar Muzaffar, the court ordered Bukhari to join the NAB inquiry against him 'in good faith.'
The NAB prosecutor informed the court that NAB had moved a request for placing Bukhari's name on the ECL, but at that time the relevant subcommittee was dysfunctional so his name had been added to the blacklist.
He added that Bukhari was issued repeated notices but he did not cooperate with NAB, so NAB had moved a request with the Interior Ministry to place him on the ECL.
Justice Farooq observed that the blacklist was meant to restrict movements of a person involved in anti-state activities, and wondered how Bukhari was allowed to "leave in such haste without informing the NAB".
The bench asked from the Interior Ministry section officer how and why Bukhari was permitted to proceed for Umrah while his name had already been placed on a blacklist.
Justice Farooq remarked that the Interior Ministry ordinarily displayed reluctance to remove names from the ECL despite the orders of superior courts but in this case they showed remarkable efficiency.
He said, "I wish such efficiency is displayed in cases related to the general public."
Later, the court directed the Interior Ministry and NAB to submit written replies in this regard.
The judge also heard the matter wherein the court was requested to initiate proceedings against the officials of the defense and interior ministries for allowing Bukhari to depart from Noor Khan Airbase.
In this connection, the IHC bench directed the Defense Ministry to depute an official to brief the court on this petition. The petition was moved by a citizen Muhammad Kausar through his counsel Inamul Rahiem Advocate and cited federation of Pakistan through secretary Ministry of Defense, secretary Ministry of Interior and director general Federal Investigation Agency as respondents.