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ISLAMABAD:
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has ordered on Wednesday the immediate removal of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders Shahzad Akbar and Shahbaz Gill’s names from the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) ‘stop list’.
IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah heard the case with both PTI members and their lawyers, as well as officials from the FIA and interior ministry present at the hearing.
The FIA official maintained that the assistant director of immigration had received a letter on April 8. He said that after the extraordinary situation of April 9 and 10 – when PTI leader Imran Khan was ousted as the premier through a parliamentary vote of no-confidence – the names of the two leaders were placed on the ‘stop list’ as inquiries against them were “pending”.
To this, Justice Minallah questioned if martial law had been imposed in the country.
However, the FIA official reiterated that the PTI members’ names were added to the list following the “extraordinary” situation in the country.
He claimed that the FIA Islamabad zone had written a letter on April 8, as that the PTI leaders were being investigated for cases of ‘abuse of power’ and creating ‘assets beyond means’.
The CJ stated that the court has been observing this behaviour of FIA for the past two to three years, adding that no one will allowed to be victimised like this.
The IHC CJ also questioned the FIA’s ‘independent’ decision-making for taking such actions against its own government – the PTI was officially in government at the time its leaders’ names were added to the stop-list.
“Do not embarrass yourself with your conduct,” the court told FIA personnel.
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Shahzad Akbar claimed that their names were still on the FIA stop list, despite the high court’s earlier order suspending the FIA notification.
Responding to this, the FIA official said that the order to remove them was received “late at night” hence, could not be implemented upon. However, he assured that the order will be carried out shortly.
The chief justice stated that the methods employed by the FIA were “very old” and that the investigation agency existed for the service of ordinary citizens.
The court then ordered the immediate removal of Shahzad and Shahbaz’s names from the FIA’s stop list.
The IHC further ordered them not to harass the two PTI members.
“If they ask us, we will go to Adiala Jail anyway,” Shahzad Akbar said with a smile, prompting Shahbaz’s lawyer to state that the statement was not applicable as far as his client was concerned.
The IHC said that the FIA director general should ensure that Shahzad Akbar and Shahbaz Gill were not harassed, and sought a report from the interior ministry.
The hearing was adjourned till Monday.
A day earlier, the IHC had temporarily granted relief to the PTI members on the stop list and summoned the director general of the FIA and interior ministry officials after Shahzad and Shahbaz filed a petition in the high court.