ISLAMABAD: The federal authorities on Wednesday put the name of Syed Zulfiqar Bukhari aka Zulfi Bukhari, a close aide of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan, on the Exit Control List (ECL), ARY News reported.
A cabinet sub-committee, formed to decide requests with regard to the placement of people’s names on the no-fly-list, gave the go-ahead to putting his name on the ECL at the request of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
Earlier, the Islamabad High Court had accepted Bukhari’s petition, directing the interior ministry to strike his name off the blacklist.
The interior ministry informed the court that he was placed on the blacklist in response to the NAB’s request because the sub-committee responsible for approving the inclusion of names on the ECL was dysfunctional at the time the request was forwarded.
The IHC, in its order, discussed the concept of placing a citizen on the blacklist in detail and observed that since NAB is investigating Bukhari on the allegations of owning offshore companies in the British Virgin Islands, therefore his name can be placed on the ECL.
Subsequently, at the NAB request, the high court allowed the ministry to take essential measures to place a travel ban on Bukhari, stating: “It is needless to observe that [the interior ministry] shall be at liberty to take appropriate action in accordance with law on the application of [NAB] for placing the name of petitioner on Exit Control List.”
Bukhari, a British national, was briefly barred from boarding a special flight for Saudi Arabia from Noor Khan Airbase to perform Umrah along with PTI chief Imran Khan on June 11.
He, however, was later allowed to travel when he submitted an affidavit to the effect that he would return to the country after spending six days in the kingdom.
He is facing a National Accountability Bureau (NAB) inquiry and had skipped its multiple summons.
){kind=link}