KARACHI: The Sindh High Court has given two weeks to the attorney general for filing a reply of the interior ministry on a petition of retired general Pervez Musharraf against the restriction on his travel out of the country.

A division bench comprising Justices Mohammed Ali Mazhar and Shahnawaz Tariq put off the matter to May 7 as the chief federal law officer, Salman Aslam Butt, asked the court to grant further time during a brief hearing of the case on Wednesday.

Advocate Dr Faroogh Naseem, counsel for the former military dictator, however, opposed the attorney general’s request, arguing that the federal government had already worked on the matter earlier. He said that two weeks’ time for filing the federal government’s stance was not fair at all.

The same bench on Monday directed the interior secretary and other official respondents to submit their respective replies on Gen Musharraf’s petition seeking withdrawal of his name from the Exit Control List (ECL).

The petition was filed by the former military ruler’s attorney retired brigadier Akhtar Zamin, who impleaded the interior secretary, director general, regional director and additional director (immigration) of the Federal Investigation Agency as respondents.

The petitioner’s counsel told the judges that the general wanted to visit his ailing mother in Dubai, but the federal government had disallowed him from leaving the country as his name had been placed on the ECL on April 5 last year without citing any cogent reasons. He said that trial courts had confirmed Gen Musharraf’s bail in all cases including those pertaining to the killing of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Bugti. The counsel said that the special court that indicted the former president for high treason granted him exemption on March 31 from personal appearance in the court and made it clear that it had not issued any directives for placing Gen Musharraf’s name on the ECL.

Advocate Naseem quoted the special court order as observing that the federal government could not refuse to review its decision of placing Gen Musharraf’s name on the ECL merely because the high treason case against him was pending disposal in the court.

Subsequently, he said, Gen Musharraf moved two applications to the interior ministry seeking permission to travel abroad. But they were dismissed illegally and unconstitutionally, the counsel added. He argued that mere pendency of criminal cases against the former president could not be a justification to place his name on the ECL. He said that restrictions on Gen Musharraf’s travelling abroad were against the fundamental right of the freedom of movement and fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 9, 14, and 15 of the Constitution. The court was requested to declare the placing of Musharraf’s name on the ECL illegal and direct the federal government to remove his name from the ECL.