May 17, 2024
Kamran Ali
PESHAWAR:
The Peshawar High Court has ordered the federal government to remove the name of a convicted student, Ali Khan, from the Exit Control List (ECL) after having completed his term of imprisonment.
Ali Khan, who was convicted in Mashal Khan’s murder case, had filed a petition for removal of his name from ECL.
A bench comprising of Justice Atique Shah and Justice Arshad Ali of the PHC accepted the petition by observing that “in a situation, where the petitioner has been released from jail, after completion of imprisonment awarded to him, then his name should be excluded from ECL”.
The counsel for Ali Khan, Advocate Malik Shahbaz, appeared before the court for the petitioner. “My client applied for renewal of passport as he intended to travel abroad, whereby he came to know that his name was placed on ECL”, he informed the court.
Advocate Malik Shahbaz argued that his client’s name was added to the ECL by the police when he was in jail, however since he has completed his three-year imprisonment and has been released subsequently in February last year so his name should now be taken out of the list. “Putting petitioner’s name on the ECL is a violation of the constitution because constitution guarantees freedom of movement to every citizen except prisoners”, he further contended.
Malik Shahbaz informed the court that the petitioner requested the concerned authorities for removal of his name from ECL, but they turned a blind eye to the request.
In response to the petition, the court order reads “we admit and allow the petition in terms of directing the respondents [Federation of Pakistan, Director General Federal Investigation Agency and Director General Immigration and Passports] to remove the petitioner from the Exit Control List”.
Justice Ijaz Anwar of PHC had also accepted a similar petition in November 2023, wherein the court had ordered the removal of a co-accused in Mashal’s case, namely Sabir Ullah alias Sabir Mayar.
Mashal Khan was a student of Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan who was lynched by a violent mob in 2017 over allegations of blasphemy.
In Mashal Khan’s lynching case, a total of 61 accused were put on trial, however only 33 of them were convicted, whereas, the prime accused, Imran Ali, was awarded death sentence, but PHC converted the penalty into life imprisonment. Seven other accused also got life imprisonment while 25 others accused (including Ali Khan) were awarded three years imprisonment. Up till now 28 people accused in the Mashal Khan case have been acquitted.