The Islamabad High Court on Tuesday put off the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) order putting the key aides of former prime minister Imran Khan – former accountability adviser Shahzad Akbar, special assistant on political communication Shahbaz Gill and four others – on the ‘stop list’.
A day earlier, the FIA placed six key members of the former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government on the ‘stop list’. The ‘stop list’ bars people from leaving the country. Akbar filed a petition with the IHC on Tuesday, looking for a revocation of the FIA’s move barring him and others from travelling abroad.
IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah observed that the court had previously professed the “black list” as illegal. Akbar called on the court to ask the FIA chief that who directed him to place his name on the no-fly list. He said that if he had committed a crime then “there should be an application moved [to request such a move]”.
In its written order, the court ordered FIA to appear on Wednesday and explain “who had authorized the placing of the names of the petitioners and other three officials closely associated with the former premier on the list”.
