The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has granted lawyer Latif Khosa permission 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 (LEC) due to a case filed against him at the Secretariat police station in connection with a protest held in front of the Supreme Court.
The court questioned the justification of restricting his travel, given the minor nature of the charges under section 188 of the Pakistan Penal Code.
Government prosecutors acknowledged that no charge sheet had been filed in the case brought against Khosa for alleged protest activity outside the Supreme Court.
The court criticized the inclusion of names in the ECL without solid grounds and asked whether thousands of people facing similar charges had also been banned from travelling.
Latif Khosa informed the court that he missed his previous flight on January 5 due to the restrictions. Now he plans to travel to Canada.
The High Court ordered Khosa to file an affidavit before the trial court, ensuring his appearance whenever summoned. The session concluded with the conditional approval of his travel request.
Earlier in October, Islamabad police had registered a terrorism case against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman, lawyer Gohar Ali Khan, Latif Khosa and 19 other lawyers for burning an effigy of the chief of a state institution in front of the Supreme Court. The charges were brought under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) and other important sections of the law.
According Express Newsthe case was filed by the Station House Officer (SHO) of Secretariat Police Station, naming prominent figures like 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 claims that the protesters burned the effigy of the head of a state institution and resisted police officers, threatening them with dire consequences.
The FIR further claims that the protesters chanted slogans and vowed to block court rulings and disrupt court proceedings. Protesters also burned tires and blocked roads. Also, more than 100 unidentified people carrying PTI flags have been named in the case.
