KARACHI: A division bench of Sindh High Court (SHC) Thursday (today) heard a petition filed by Ayyan Ali for removing her name from the Exit Control List (ECL).
However, during the hearing, the court ordered that Ayyan Ali should be removed from Exit Control List (ECL).
Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto issued a short order on an application filed by the model regarding removal of her name from ECL.
Earlier, The verdict of the case regarding removing Ayyan Ali’s name from Exit Control List (ECL) was sent to Sindh High Court (SHC) chief justice (CJ) over judges’ opposite notes.
The counsel for the model informed the court that her name had been put on ECL once again, which was removed earlier. He said the court had already directed respondents in the petition to inform the court before putting her name on the ECL again.
Ayyan, now out on bail, is facing a trial for attempting to smuggle $506,800 after she was caught at the Islamabad airport on March 14 last year.
She had challenged the third memorandum by the interior ministry to place her name on the ECL since her arrest, despite the SHC suspending the ministry’s memoranda twice.
The petitioner’s counsel Latif Khoso and Qadir Khan Mandokhel said Ayyan was once again restrained by the federal investigation authorities despite her name being deleted from the ECL.
They said interior ministry’s officials, including the interior secretary, had given the undertaking before the court that there was no legal impediment for her to travel, but the gross violation of the court’s directives had been committed.
They added that the third memorandum for placement of the petitioner’s name on the ECL was a perverse act, as she was neither named in the FIR nor the Lahore High Court had issued any direction to place her name on the ECL.
Additional Attorney General Salman Talibuddin defended the interior ministry’s decision, saying that the supermodel was stopped at the airport because her name was on the ECL following a recommendation by the Punjab government in connection with the murder case of a customs officer.
The interior ministry had earlier submitted its comments that Ayyan was offloaded from the airport due to the placement of her name on the ECL.
The ministry’s representative said the Punjab administration had recommended placing her name on the ECL in connection with the murder case of customs’ investigating officer Ejaz.
He said the deceased’s wife suspected that the supermodel was involved in the case because Ejaz was the investigating officer in the smuggling case against Ayyan.
Ayyan was previously facing a trial before the customs court in Rawalpindi. According to the prosecution, the model was trying to smuggle undeclared money from Pakistan to Dubai.
