Former Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed. PHOTO: BBC
RAWALPINDI:
A division bench of the Lahore High Court’s Rawalpindi Bench comprising Justice Jawad Hassan and Justice Tariq Mahmood Bajwa reserved its verdict after completing the hearing of an intra-court appeal filed by former interior minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed seeking permission to travel for Umrah.
Justice Jawad Hassan observed that preventing any citizen from performing Umrah on the basis of an FIR raises an important legal question and said a detailed reported judgment would be issued before reserving the decision. Former interior minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed appeared before the court along with his counsel Sardar Abdul Razzaq.
The counsel argued that the federal government’s intra-court appeal was not maintainable, stating that the government had already shown consent before the single bench regarding the permission.
He said Section 28-A of the Anti-Terrorism Act cannot override Article 15 of the Constitution.
Under Article 15, he said, the Supreme Court in 2007 allowed the Sharif brothers to travel abroad. In 2016 the Supreme Court also permitted former president Pervez Musharraf to travel abroad despite cases under the Anti-Terrorism Act. In 2017 the Supreme Court allowed model Ayyan Ali to travel abroad despite pending cases.
He argued that under Article 15 of the Constitution, restrictions cannot be imposed on a citizen’s movement or travel abroad. The Anti-Terrorism Court had not issued any specific order regarding Sheikh Rashid’s travel abroad.
Earlier his name had been placed on the Exit Control List to prevent travel, but the High Court had declared that order void.
He added that Sheikh Rashid had travelled abroad several times in the past and had now been placed on the Provisional National Identification List. During the trial of the GHQ attack case, Sheikh Rashid had travelled abroad more than ten times and returned.
The counsel said the Anti-Terrorism Act was enacted to deal with terrorists, not politicians, and Section 28-A gives trial courts authority to confiscate passports of accused persons only to prevent their departure abroad. He argued that this provision cannot be used against politicians or opposition leaders.
