The interior ministry on Tuesday placed the name of former director general of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) retired Lt Gen Asad Durrani on Exit Control List (ECL) on the recommendation of the military's Intelligence Directorate, Rawalpindi, citing an ongoing inquiry against him.

On Monday, the army had announced to set up a ‘court of inquiry’ to investigate Durrani's collaboration with A.S. Dulat, former chief of Indian spy agency RAW (Research and Analysis Wing), in what is being seen as a lightning-rod book project that has stirred heated controversy.

“A formal court of inquiry headed by a serving lieutenant general has been ordered to probe the matter in detail. The competent authority has been approached to place the name of Lieutenant General Asad Durrani (retd) on Exit Control List (ECL),” ISPR Director General Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor had tweeted.

Durrani had earlier been “called to” the General Headquarters to provide his personal clarification over his involvement in the book project and the assertions that he has made in the book. The book The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI, and the Illusion of Peace was last week launched in India. It contains conversations between Durrani and Dulat that were mediated by an Indian journalist.

The military is taking it as a potential case of violation of ‘Military Code of Conduct’, which it says is applicable to all serving and retired military personnel. Section 55 of the Military Law, which relates to “conduct unbecoming of an officer” is considered to have a very wide scope.

The court of inquiry would look into the book and determine if its content and Mr Durrani’s involvement with the book was culpable and then based on its findings it would make recommendations to the army chief on how to proceed further with the matter.