The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has allowed senior advocate Latif Khosa to travel abroad and ordered the removal of his name from the Exit Control List (ECL).
Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani presided over the hearing of Khosa’s petition challenging his placement in the ECL.
During the hearing, the petitioner stated that his name was added to the Exit Control List (ECL) due to a case filed against him at the Secretariat Police Station in connection with a protest held outside the Supreme Court.
The court questioned the rationale for restricting his travel, given the minor nature of the charges under Section 188 of the Pakistan Penal Code.
Government prosecutors acknowledged that no indictment had been filed in the case against Khosa for alleged protest activity outside the Supreme Court.
The court criticized the inclusion of names on the ECL without solid grounds and asked whether thousands facing similar charges had also been barred from travel.
Latif Khosa informed the court that his earlier flight on January 5 was missed due to the restrictions. He now plans to travel to Canada.
The High Court directed Khosa to submit an affidavit in the trial to ensure that he appeared whenever he was summoned. The session ended with conditional approval of his travel request.
Earlier, in October, Islamabad police had registered a terror case against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman lawyer Gohar Ali Khan, Latif Khosa and 19 other lawyers for burning an effigy of a state institution’s head outside the Supreme Court. The charges were filed under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) and other serious sections of the law.
According to Express newsthe case was filed by the Station House Officer (SHO) of the Secretariat Police Station naming prominent persons including Shibli Faraz, Salman Akram Raja, Tayyab Mustafain Kazmi, Niazullah Niazi and Azam Swati.
Others listed in the first information report (FIR) include Naseem Haider Panjutha, Advocate Ansar, Barrister Gohar and Abdullah Wazir. The FIR states that the protesters burnt the effigy of a government institution’s head and resisted police officers, threatening them with dire consequences.
The FIR further alleges that the protesters shouted slogans and vowed to block court orders and disrupt the trial. The protesters also burned tires and blocked the roads. Additionally, more than 100 unidentified PTI flag bearers have been named in the case.
