KARACHI, Nov 25: A division bench of the Sindh High Court referred to its chief justice on Monday an application filed by former president retired Gen Pervez Musharraf seeking removal of his name form the exit control list (ECL) to constitute another bench to hear and decide the application.

Gen Musharraf had requested the court to review its earlier order restraining him from leaving the country without permission of trial courts.

At the last hearing, his counsel A.Q. Halepota submitted that Gen Musharraf had appeared before the SHC on March 29 for a 21-day transitory bail. The bail was granted with a condition that he would not leave the country without permission of the trial courts and his name was placed on the ECL.

The counsel informed the bench that trial courts had confirmed Gen Musharraf’s bail in all cases, including the killings of Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Bugti, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and Lal Masjid cleric Ghazi Abdul Rasheed during an army operation in 2007.

He said Gen Musharraf wanted to be with his 95-year-old ailing mother in Dubai after his release on bail. He argued that placing the name on the ECL was a violation of fundamental rights and requested the court to review its earlier order.

On Friday, Deputy Attorney General Mohammad Zahid Khan had submitted a statement on behalf of the interior ministry and said the name of the former army chief had been put on ECL after fulfilling all legal requirements.

He said that in his application Gen Musharraf did not mention whether or not he approached the trial courts for permission to leave the country. He said the applicant had also not discussed the grounds for seeking modification of the court’s earlier order. He requested the court to dismiss the application as non-maintainable.

The division bench, headed by Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, directed the court office to place the matter before the SHC chief justice to constitute the same bench which had issued the earlier order.

ECL ORDER: The Sindh High Court directed a petitioner on Monday to place on record a copy of the Supreme Court order placing the name of Gen Musharraf on the ECL. A division bench of the SHC, headed by Justice Ghulam Sarwar Korai, had taken up a petition filed by Advocate Moulvi Iqbal Haider seeking retention of Gen Musharraf’s name on the ECL till a treason case against him was decided.

The petitioner informed the bench that the apex court had issued a verdict on his petition, directing the FIA to conduct an investigation into the treason case against Gen Musharraf and place his name on the ECL.

Moulvi Iqbal said Gen Musharraf wanted to flee the country and that was why he had filed an application for removal of his name from the ECL. He pleaded that the federal authorities be refrained from removing Gen Musharraf’s name from the ECL till disposal of the treason case against him.

The hearing was adjourned to Dec 5.—PPI