KARACHI: The federal government on Monday opposed the former president Pervez Musharraf’s petition in the Sindh High Court (SHC) for removal of his name from the Exit Control List (ECL).
Filing comments with the court on Musharraf’s petition against placement of his name on the ECL, a Ministry of Interior official, Amir Sohail, submitted that the petitioner was facing serious charges, including high treason and if a conviction was secured, he may get capital punishment.
He said the petitioner had been nominated in four different cases, which were sub judice. He said the nature of crimes leveled against the petitioner was very serious due to which he could not be allowed to leave the country.
He submitted that the name of the petitioner had been placed on the ECL on the direction of the Supreme Court in a high treason matter and the high court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain and adjudicate the petition. He said the petition was liable to be dismissed at all costs.
Sohail submitted that the petitioner was accused of committing serious crimes, including the charge of high treason. In case, he said, the petitioner’s likely conviction in one or more cases on these serious charges entails capital punishment, the existence of incentive to abscond must obviously be greater.
He submitted that the petition was not maintainable in its present form, as the petitioner himself was available in the country but he chose to file a petition through an attorney, who could not depose the facts of the case.
He submitted that the petitioner had made several misstatements in the petition, concealed important facts and approached the court with unclean hands and, therefore, he was not entitled to any discretionary relief.
It was submitted that the federal government had offered to fly the petitioner’s ailing mother from the UAE back to Pakistan; however, the petitioner was not sincere in his request, and there was a great likelihood that in the garb of his request, the petitioner intends to flee Pakistan and frustrate the judicial process and the purpose of the law.
The hearing of the case has already been fixed for May 7 before the SHC. Musharraf, through his attorney Brigadier (retd) Akhtar Zamin, submitted in the petition that the federal government banned his traveling abroad on April 5, 2013 without giving any justified reason for placement of his name on the ECL.
The counsel pointed out that although the Supreme Court passed an interim order on April 8, 2013 for placement of the petitioner’s name on the ECL, the court, while disposing of the petitions against his client with regard to the high treason trial, said no condition of keeping the petitioner’s name on the ECL had been specified.
No comments:
Post a Comment