Once again on Saturday, the interior ministry challenged the Sindh High Court’s (SHC) decision in the Supreme Court to remove model Ayyan Ali’s name off the Exit Control List (ECL).
In a petition received by the SC, the interior ministry maintained that the model’s name was put on the list by the Lahore High Court (LHC); thus, it could not be removed by the SHC.
The ministry requested that the LHC’s decision to keep the model’s name on the ECL be upheld.
Earlier on January 19, the SHC ordered authorities to strike Ayyan Ali’s name off ECL, but later suspended its order for 10 days on the government’s request.
Hours after SHC’s Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto ordered authorities to remove the model’s name from the ECL on January 19, Additional Attorney General Salman Talibuddin prayed before the court to suspend its order for 10 days as the federal government intended to challenge the judgment in the Supreme Court.
Accepting the government’s request, the court suspended its order on Ayyan’s application for 10 days.
Justice Phulpoto was appointed as a referee judge by SHC Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah last month to decide Ayyan’s petition after one of the judges on a division bench approved the model’s plea, while the other rejected it.
The interior ministry on a court directive had removed her name from the ECL, but it was again included in the list after a few hours.
The model later filed a contempt of court application against the federal government for not allowing her to travel abroad despite the court’s directive to strike her name off ECL.
The model had approached the court initially in Dec 2015 requesting the removal of her name from the exit control list. Her counsel had maintained that having her name on the ECL was illegal as authorities had returned her passport.