ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the interior ministry’s appeal to keep model Ayyan Ali’s name on the Exit Control List (ECL) and upheld the Sindh High Court’s verdict to remove her name from the list.
Three-member bench of apex court headed by Chief Justice Saqib Nisar heard the appeal and said it seemed as if the government wanted to keep the model in the country by hook or by crook.
The lawyer representing the ministry argued that the model’s name was added to the ECL by the Lahore High Court (LHC) and that is why the SHC should have listened to their arguments as to why the name was added to the list before handing out the verdict.
On Saturday, the interior ministry challenged in the Supreme Court the SHC decision to strike Ayyan’s name off the ECL.
In a petition received by the SC, the interior ministry maintained that the model’s name was put on the list by the LHC and thus it could not be removed by the SHC. The ministry requested that the Lahore High Court (LHC)’s decision to keep the model’s name on the ECL be upheld. INP