PESHAWAR, March 10: A two-member bench of the Peshawar High Court on Monday partially accepted two writ petitions of a former MNA and alleged drug trafficker, Haji Ayub Afridi, challenging placement of his name on the Exit Control List and non-issuance of passport to him.

The bench, comprising Justice Ijaz Afzal and Justice Dost Muhammad, ordered that the petitioner would only be allowed to go abroad for Haj and Umra.

The court had reserved its judgment on Nov 28, 2002.

Advocates M. Sardar Khan and Muhammad Jamil Khan had appeared for the petitioner and deputy attorney-general Salahuddin Khan represented the government.

The petitioner had stated that he was neither charged in any case nor was any inquiry pending against him.

He said he was a free citizen of Pakistan and there were certain constitutional rights enjoyed by him. He stated that by not issuing passport to him and placing his name on the ECL, the federal government had violated the Constitution and put restrictions on his freedom of movement.

Last year, when he had filed these petitions he had claimed that he intended to go to Saudi Arabia for Haj.