PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court on Tuesday issued notices to federal interior ministry and Federal Investigation Agency, seeking their response to plea of former provincial minister and leader of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Taimur Saleem Khan Jhagra’s daughter challenging placing her name on ‘stop list’ by government.

A bench consisting of Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Dr Khurshid Iqbal fixed Aug 19 for next hearing of the petition filed by Haniah Khan, a student at Berkley University of California, USA. She has requested the court to declare as illegal placement of her name in any of travel restrictions list including Provisional National Identification List (PNIL) and Exit Control List (ECL) etc.

She also sought directives of the court for respondents including federal interior ministry and FIA to remove her name from the said lists.

Senior counsel Ali Gohar Durrani appeared for the petitioner and stated that his client was daughter of Taimur Saleem Khan, who served the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as provincial minister for finance and health.

He said that the petitioner after completing her second semester came back to Pakistan for her summer break on vacations and was slated to return on Aug 20. He said that the petitioner was accompanying her father to travel to Dubai on Aug 6, 2025, when she was asked by FIA authorities at Bacha Khan International Airport Peshawar that her name was on ‘stop list’.

The counsel argued that the petitioner had no nexus with any political movement, was not part of any political party and had no criminal history or record. He added that there was no FIR, investigation pending against her with any law enforcement agency.

He contended that respondents deliberately tried to stop her from flying abroad.

Mr Durrani argued that petitioner’s right to education would suffer irreparably, if she was not allowed to travel, and as her semester was slated to start in the last week of August, the failure to remove her name from travel restriction lists would infringe her right to education.

He contended that the petitioner, being a citizen of Pakistan, held the fundamental right to move freely within and outside the borders of the country.

During course of hearing, the bench observed that it had to give a detailed judgement on the subject matter as travel restrictions had frequently been placed on people without fulfilling legal formalities.

Meanwhile, the bench disposed of a contempt of court petition filed by Senator Azam Khan Swati after federal government and FIA informed it that his name was presently not in any of the travel restriction lists.

Mr Swati had filed the contempt plea after his name was not removed from ECL despite an earlier order of the high court.

His counsel Ali Azim Afridi said that although the court had ordered removal of his name from travel restriction lists, respondents violated that order and he was stopped from going abroad at the airport few days ago.

He said that the petitioner was now having flight on Aug 13 as he intended to go abroad for medical treatment.

An assistant attorney general and a representative of FIA informed the bench that the name of the petitioner was no longer in any of the lists restricting his travelling abroad. They said that he was free to travel abroad.

Published in Dawn, August 13th, 2025