Tag: No-fly list

  • Court orders removal of Parvez Elahi’s name from no-fly list

    Court orders removal of Parvez Elahi’s name from no-fly list

    The Lahore High Court (LHC) has granted significant relief to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) President Parvez Elahi by directing the removal of his name from the Passport Control List (PCL), as reported by ARY News on Monday.

    Justice Shams Mahmood Mirza of the LHC issued the verdict in response to a filed petition. Justice Mirza also instructed the removal of the names of Elahi’s son, Rasikh Elahi, and daughter-in-law, Zara Elahi, from the PCL.

    Earlier, Parvez Elahi had submitted a plea requesting the removal of his name from the PCL to facilitate his international travel.

    On May 21, Parvez Elahi was released from jail after spending a year behind bars.

    Following his release, the veteran politician stated, “I am thankful to Allah for giving me the courage to remain steadfast. I am also grateful to the judges who upheld the truth and supported me.”

  • Imran Khan’s close aides’ names placed on no-fly list

    The federal government placed the names of two of former Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s close aides — Mirza Shahzad Akbar and Ziaul Mustafa Naseem — on the no-fly list pertaining to a private housing scheme at the request of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

    According to media reports, the cabinet removed the 22 names from the Exit Control List (ECL) and added the names of 10 people to it.

    Both Akbar and Naseem are presently in the United Kingdom (UK). According to Dawn, as per practice, if a person whose name is placed on ECL is abroad, he is arrested on his return and handed over to the relevant law-enforcement agency.

    Akbar has served as an adviser on interior and accountability to former PM Khan. He left for Dubai on April 17, from where he flew to London five days later, five days after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) suspended FIA orders placing his name on the stop list.

    Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah accused Akbar and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi of accepting Rs5 billion and hundreds of kanals from a housing developer in return for “providing protection” to the real estate firm in the same case during their term.

    Earlier this month, the coalition government reportedly decided to put the names of Khan and other PTI leaders on the no-fly list to prevent them from leaving the country.

  • ECP verdict: Govt decides to place Imran and other PTI leaders on no-fly list

    ECP verdict: Govt decides to place Imran and other PTI leaders on no-fly list

    After the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) verdict was announced yesterday in the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) foreign funding case, the coalition government has reportedly decided to put the names of PTI Chairman Imran Khan and other PTI leaders on the no-fly list to prevent them from leaving the country. The government has also decided to move the Supreme Court (SC) to hear the reference it is going to file in the wake of the ECP verdict.

    The government will put the names of former premier Imran Khan, ex-governors of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Sindh and former chairman of the Utility Stores Corporation (USC) Zulqarnain Ali Khan on the no-fly list, reports The Express Tribune.

    The government will also request Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial to constitute a full court to hear the case, which is yet to be filed, reports Geo News.

    All the government allies were unanimously on board for taking strict legal action in light of the ECP’s verdict.

    PTI to move IHC

    “The PTI will file two different petitions — one contempt of court petition against ECP for violating the Supreme Court and high court’s decisions for not giving verdict against PPP and PML-N together with PTI, whereas the second petition would be filed against the ECP’s decision for having too many loopholes in the verdict,” announced Asad Umar yesterday.

    “People trust Imran Khan and that’s why they sent their money to him when he started the fundraising events. If you block political donations, the only other way is that of powerful people,” he added.

    Just after the decision was announced, PTI leader Fa­­wad Chaudhry said that most of the money was donated by overseas Pakistanis.

    He said that he could not understand why the PML-N, JUI-F and PPP declared overseas Pakistanis as an “enemy”.

    “We consider overseas Pakistanis to be the backbone of Pakistan’s economy and will continue to rely on them for our funding,” said Fawad. About the certificates that were submitted to the ECP by Khan, Fawad said that these certificates were made by the auditors and Khan had just signed them so the responsibility cannot be put on Imran.

    The former premier had personally issued certificates to the ECP in regards to Article 13(2) of the PPO to the effect that PTI “does not receive funds from prohibited sources”, meaning thereby that the PTI is not a foreign-aided political party.

    On Tuesday, the ECP said that PTI received ‘prohibited funds’ from 34 foreign nationals. The PTI was issued a show-cause notice after the unanimous verdict by a three-member bench of the ECP headed by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja.

  • Supreme Court bars transfers, appointments in high-profile cases

    Supreme Court bars transfers, appointments in high-profile cases

    The Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) is barring authorities from making new appointments and transferring officials involved in “high-profile” and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) cases as well as those cases which are being heard by special courts, reports Dawn.

    The Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) observed that special courts in Karachi and Lahore lack judges while three accountability courts in Islamabad are also empty.

    The court issued notices to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) director general, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman and the interior secretary. The court asked the parties concerned to give an explanation as to why there was “interference” in criminal cases, and stopped the NAB and FIA from withdrawing cases till further orders.

    The court also asked to be informed about the steps being taken to protect the record of criminal cases and directed for the record of high-profile cases to be checked and sealed. When Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Ashtar Ausaf protested against this, the CJP said that the record of ongoing cases would not be sealed, only that of the prosecution.

    During the hearing, the CJP also observed that there should be “no interference in the prosecution process or the prosecution wing”.

    The CJP also noticed that FIA’s former director Mohammad Rizwan, who was probing money laundering charges against Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif and his son Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Hamza Shahbaz, was also transferred and later died of a heart attack.

    “We are concerned over these developments,” the CJP said. Justice Bandial, indirectly pointing out at Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) also stated that according to news reports, “thousands” of people had benefitted after their names were removed from the no-fly list.

    At one point, CJP Bandial remarked that the court was only concerned with ensuring justice and adjourned the hearing till May 27.

  • PTI’s Shahzad Akbar leaves for Dubai after name removed from ‘no-fly list’

    PTI’s Shahzad Akbar leaves for Dubai after name removed from ‘no-fly list’

    Special Assistant to former Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan on Accountability and Interior Shahzad Akbar left for Dubai on Sunday after his name was removed from the FIA’s ‘stop-list’ on the order of the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

    According to Express Tribune, Akhbar departed via Islamabad International Airport for Dubai on an international airline at 3:30 am, from where he is expected to depart for the United Kingdom (UK).

    Last week, the FIA had put names of four Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) members including former aides — Shahzad Akbar and Shahbaz Gill on “no-fly list.”

    However, on April 12 the Islamabad High Court suspended the notification. IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah remarked that the court has already declared the blacklist illegal.

    He said, “We have already issued a verdict that no one’s name can be placed on this list.”

    IHC also suspended the ban on three other persons— former principal secretary Azam Khan, Khan’s ex-focal person on Digital Media Dr Arslan Khalid and Punjab Anti-Corruption Establishment Chairman Mohammad Nafees Gohar.