Remove former ISI chief’s name from ECL, court tells government

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday ordered the removal of the name of the former chief of the Inter-services Intelligence (ISI) Lt Gen (retd) Asad Durrani from the Exit Control List (ECL).

IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah issued the verdict ater hearing all the sides in the case. He said Durrani has the same rights as any other citizen of the country.

The former spy chief landed in trouble ater co-authoring a book titled ‘The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace’ with India’s former Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) chief Amarjit Singh Dulat in 2018.

During the hearing, Justice Minallah told Additional Atorney General Tariq Khokhar, “You had said that Durrani’s name is in the ECL because of the ongoing inquiry against him.”

However, he added that according to the record, there is no ongoing inquiry against the ex ISI chief.

“The petitioner is a three-star retired general and served as the former DG ISI,” the court noted.”he is now a commoner and enjoys all the rights that he is entitled to under the Constitution.”

The judge added that the federal government doesn’t have the powers to put anyone’s name in the ECL.

At this, Khokhar said that the representatives of the defence minister are here and they can issue a statement in this regard.

Justice Minallah responded saying, “there is no need to summon anyone as I’ve seen the record.” He reiterated that according to the record, there is no ongoing inquiry against Durrani.

“There are no grounds to continue to keep his name in the ECL,” the judge concluded.

Ater the book’s publication, the Military Intelligence Directorate recommended the interior ministry to place Durrani’s name on the no-fly list.

In May 2018, the ministry issued a notification about puting the former ISI chief’s name on the ECL and said that Durrani is “involved in an ongoing inquiry”, thus he could not leave the country.