ISLAMABAD: Two weeks following Sindh High Court rejection of his plea, Dr Asim Hussain has requested the Supreme Court (SC) to remove his name from the Exit Control List (ECL).
In a petition submitted to the SC on Monday (today), Dr Asim stated that he needs immediate medical treatment abroad.
Moreover, a petition, filed by PPP’s Sardar Latif Khosa, stated that anything could happen in case Dr Asim is barred from travelling abroad.There should be no restriction on Dr Asim’s movement, and his passport should be returned to him, read the petition.
On June 5, the SHC ruled that Dr Asim’s name would continue to be included in the ECL.
Dr Asim — out on bail in cases of corruption and terrorism — had requested the court to allow him to travel out of the country for back surgery.
In the SHC, the federal government had opposed the removal of Dr Asim’s name from the ECL, informing the two-judge bench that the accused has been put on the ECL on the order of the court as well as on recommendations of the National Accountability Bureau.
Dr Asim — a former federal minister — faces trial in two cases of alleged corruption of over Rs450 billion and another of allegedly facilitating and treating terrorists at his medical facility — Dr Ziauddin Hospital. He was arrested by the Rangers in August 2015, before being handed over to the police.
He, however, was released from the sub-jail at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre in Karachi on March 31, 2017, after obtaining bail in all the cases lodged against him.