ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has issued a directive on Friday instructing relevant authorities to eliminate the name of former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shireen Mazari from the Passport Control List (PCL), which oversees the country’s entry and exit points.
Mazari, a former prominent member of PTI, had her name added to the PCL based on the Islamabad police’s suggestion on May 26. This action occurred shortly after she disassociated herself from the party following the May 9 riots.
After the unrest following the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan in a corruption case, several significant figures from PTI, including Mazari, were apprehended under the Maintenance of Public Order ordinance.
The court’s decision came in response to Mazari’s appeal, presented through her legal representative, Advocate Barrister Ahsan Jamal Pirzada, who asserted the illegitimacy of placing her name on the PCL.
The IHC’s brief order stated, “[…] the current writ petition is granted, deeming the inclusion of the petitioner’s name on the PCL as unjust, illegal, lacking lawful authority, and having no legal validity.”
The court not only mandated the removal of Mazari’s name from the PCL within a week but also directed the Director-General of Islamabad Immigration and Passport to furnish a compliance report to the judicial deputy registrar of the high court.
Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri of the IHC issued the instructions after accepting Mazari’s argument that restricting her movement by placing her name on the PCL was not only unnecessary and against the law but also constituted a violation of constitutional provisions.
The decision on the petition had been pending since the previous month when arguments from all involved parties were concluded.
The petition highlighted that Mazari was neither served a show-cause notice nor informed about the inclusion of her name on the PCL by the relevant authorities.
“It is essential to mention that the purpose of enacting the Passport Rules, 2021, is to prevent individuals involved in terrorist/anti-state activities from fleeing abroad to evade arrest.
However, no such grounds have been presented by the respondents in the current case. It is admitted that the petitioner is not involved in such activities; she has neither been declared a proclaimed offender nor evaded law enforcement.
She was arrested, detained, released on bail, and is now actively participating in the legal proceedings against her,” the petition stated.
(Islamabad51_Newsdesk)
