The Sindh High Court (SHC) has directed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and others to file their comments on a petition filed by a former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) member provincial assembly (MPA) against the placement of her name on the exit-control list (ECL).
Dr Seema Zia said in her petition that she is a practising medical doctor, and served the PA as a legislator for two consecutive terms on a PTI ticket on women’s reserved seat. Dr Seema said that her name has been placed on the ECL by the federal government without issuing any notice to her. She said she had filed a petition in 2024, to which the Centre told the court that her name was not on the no-fly list.
She said she wanted to attend the marriage ceremony of her niece in Dubai on December 13, but she learnt that her name was placed on the ECL by the Centre. She said her right to travel abroad for attending the marriage ceremony of her niece is her fundamental right, and requested the court to declare the placement of her name on the ECL as illegal.
The federal law officer sought time to file comments on the petition. An SHC division bench headed by Justice Yousuf Ali Sayeed took exception to the non-filing of the Centre’s comments despite the court’s orders. The court directed the federal law officer to file comments on the petition by December 10.
Separately, the SHC dismissed Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan MPA Aamir Siddiqui’s petition against K-Electric’s multi-year tariff. A constitutional bench headed by Justice Adnan Chaudhry delivered the verdict in favour of KE after hearing the detailed arguments from the petitioner’s counsel and KE’s counsel Barrister Ayaan Memon.
