The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday ordered the Defence Ministry to submit an inquiry report of former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt (r) Gen Asad Durrani by General Headquarters (GHQ) after he sought removal of his name from the Exit Control List (ECL).
IHC Judge Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani was hearing Durrani’s petition and ordered the Interior Ministry to submit a reply explaining “why Durrani’s name had been placed on the ECL”.
Defence Ministry Law Branch Director Falak Naz said, “Durrani had written a book along with the former chief of the Indian spy agency,” adding that “Durrani had remained the DG Military Intelligence and the DG ISI and there was a pending inquiry against him in GHQ”.
The law branch director further said that he could not speculate about when the inquiry would be completed.
He continued to add that the former ISI chief had also been a part of the 2012 Asghar Khan case regarding the distribution of money to politicians.
The former DG ISI’s lawyer Omar Fakhar Adam said they did not receive any notice regarding an inquiry into Durrani after the book was released.
Adam pointed out, “In the Asghar Khan case, General Beg’s name had not been placed on the ECL.”
He argued that his client had to “go overseas for a conference on November 26 and 27 and his name should be removed from the ECL”.
Justice Kiyani said that until the GHQ inquiry report and Interior Ministry’s reply were submitted, nothing could be done. The case was postponed until December 3.
Earlier, it was reported that upon Pakistan Army’s request, Durrani’s name was placed on the ECL after he visited GHQ to clarify his stance in The Spy Chronicles, a book co-authored by him and former chief of Indian spy agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) Amarjit Singh Dulat.
Following this, the former ISI director general had petitioned the IHC seeking removal of his name from the no-fly list.
Moreover, Air Marshal (r) Asghar Khan had accused former army chief General (r) Mirza Aslam Beg and Durrani of corrupting the democratic process with money. Following that, in 2012, the apex court ruled that “the 1990 general elections had been polluted by dishing out Rs140 million to a particular group of politicians only to deprive the people of being represented by their chosen representatives” and send notices to 21 army officials and politicians.
