August 23, 2008	Saturday	Sha'aban 20, 1429

ISLAMABAD, Aug 22: Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday declined to accept a request to put the names of former president Pervez Musharraf, former interior minister Aftab Sherpao and other senior officials on the Exit Control List (ECL) for their alleged involvement in the Lal Masjid killings.

IHC Chief Justice Sardar Mohammad Aslam disposed of the petition with an observation that let the judgment in the Lal Masjid case, which was taken up by the Supreme Court on a suo motu notice, be announced first as relief on issues already with the apex court could not be granted.

Scores of people were killed during the Lal Masjid standoff between the government and the mosque management that started on January 22, 2007 after Jamia Hafsa students took over the children’s library adjacent to the mosque.

Chairman of Defence Human Rights Organisation Khalid Khawaja had moved the IHC with the petition seeking inclusion of the names of former president Pervez Musharraf, former interior minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, Gen Tariq Majeed, former deputy commissioner Islamabad Mohammad Ali, chief commissioner and former IG Islamabad on the Exit Control List.

The petitioner insisted that it was necessary to put their names on the ECL, claiming that the president along with other respondents could flee the country.

However the chief justice observed that the names of the respondents could not be placed on the ECL since there was no case registered against them.

During the proceedings the counsel argued that despite an attempt to register FIR against the respondents, the SHO of the Aabpara police station refused to do so. Later, the district and sessions judge Islamabad also refused to hear the case against the non-registration of the case.

Earlier, Khalid Khawaja had moved an application in the court on the same issue but the registrar office of the court had returned the application after raising objections.

Khalid Khawaja then filed a proper petition in the court after removing the objections which the court accepted for hearing.