Daily Times

The Lahore High Court on Wednesday allowed Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly Hamza Shehbaz to travel abroad and ordered the interior ministry to remove his name from the exit control list (ECL) for 10 days.

In a petition filed in the LHC, Hamza stated that the interior ministry placed his name on the ECL in an arbitrary manner as no opportunity of hearing had been afforded to him before the impugned action. “On Nov 27, 2018, I intended to travel abroad to see my ailing wife, undergoing medical treatment in the United Kingdom. However, I was informed by the authorities that my name has been included in the list on the advice of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB),” he said in the petition.

Hamza pleaded that the right to travel and free movement was guaranteed under the constitution, and that the impugned memorandum issued by the interior ministry was in utter violation of his fundamental rights. He contended that a bare perusal of the ministry’s memorandum showed that it had been issued in an unfair exercise of executive powers and failed to give any valid reason. He further pleaded that the act of placing his name on the ECL was in violation of articles 2-A, 4, 9, 15, and 25 of the constitution.

Justice Farrukh Irfan Khan, after hearing the plea, gave him one-time permission to travel abroad.

Hamza, along with his father Shehbaz Sharif and brother Salman Shehbaz, is facing multiple NAB inquiries, including those into Ramzan Sugar Mills road construction and assets beyond means.

Published in Daily Times, January 17^th 2019.