PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday ordered the interior ministry to remove the name of noted paediatric surgeon Said Alam Mehsud from the Exit Control List (ECL) within three days declaring it illegal.

A bench consisting of Justice Qaiser Rasheed and Justice Mohammad Ibrahim Khan accepted a petition filed by Dr Said Alam Mehsud challenging the placing of his name on ECL by the government on Dec 8.

The petitioner’s counsel, Fazal Ilahi, contended that the said order of the federal government was illegal and unconstitutional as restrictions couldn’t be placed on the movement of a person in such an arbitrary manner.

He said his client was a noted paediatric surgeon and social worker and had always strived for making the people aware of their constitutional rights.

The lawyer said the government had placed his name on ECL on the ground that he had association with an organisation, Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM).

He said merely on the grounds of having association with any organisation was not a crime and that the name of a person couldn’t be placed on the ECL on that basis.

The lawyer said his client suffered from different health problems and had planned to go abroad for treatment but he couldn’t do so after learning that his name was on ECL.

He said his client had given several applications to the interior ministry under the Exit from Pakistan (Control) Ordinance, 1981, for removal of his name from the ECL, but to no avail.

The lawyer said the petitioner was informed that his name was mentioned in two FIRs registered against several PTM leaders wherein they were charged with delivering anti-state speeches.

He added that merely on grounds of the registration of an FIR, a person’s name couldn’t be placed on the ECL. The lawyer questioned how a person could be barred from travelling abroad on flimsy grounds.

Additional advocate general Kamran Hayat told the court that the name of Said Alam Mehsud was placed on the ECL in light of the reports of an intelligence agency.

He added that the petitioner was a key leader of the PTM and was known for delivering anti-state speeches and inciting people against state institutions.

Mr Hayat said one of the FIRs was registered at Swabi police station on Aug 12, 2018, after the PTM held a public meeting in the area.

He said the FIR charged the petitioner and 18 others, including MNAs Ali Wazir and Mohsin Dawar, under different provisions of the Pakistan Penal Code with abetting mutiny and removing the national flag.

The petitioner denied the charges claiming that he had only been raising voice for the people’s rights mentioned in the Constitution.

Published in Dawn, April 10th, 2019