Daily Times

The Islamabad High Court (IHC), while hearing a petition seeking removal of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chief Associate Zulfi Bukhari’s name from the blacklist, questioned how a private charter jet was allowed at Nur Khan Airbase.

PTI’s Zulfi Bukhari, a close aide of PTI Chairman Imran Khan, was barred from leaving Pakistan when he proceeded to travel to Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah on June 11. Zulfi Bukhari was later granted a one-time permission to go abroad for six days by the Interior Ministry.

Hearing the case earlier today, Justice Amir Farooq questioned whether the airbase could be used for personal purposes.

Can the airbase be employed for private use and if so then what is the procedure, the judge asked a representative from the Ministry of Defence. To this, the defence ministry official replied that he was only informed he was to appear before the court last night, and that he did not even receive a copy of the petition.

Sikandar Bashir Mohmand, the counsel for Bukhari, has previously argued that his client, a British national, left for Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah along with Imran Khan in a special flight from the Nur Khan Airbase when the Federal Investigation Agency informed him that his name was on the blacklist. Caretaker Interior Minister Azam Khan last week admitted he granted permission to Bukhari to travel abroad. Azam Khan said he was informed by the interior secretary that Bukhari wanted to travel to Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah with the PTI chairman, but was stopped from leaving the country due to his name being on the blacklist.

The interior secretary further told him that Bukhari had submitted an affidavit stating that he would return to Pakistan, Azam said, following which he was granted permission to travel for six days.

On Monday, Bukhari was interrogated by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in an investigation pertaining to offshore companies, after the IHC instructed him to join the NAB probe.

Published in Daily Times, June 28^th 2018.