The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday suspended a judgement of the Sindh High Court (SHC) to remove model Ayyan Ali’s name from the Exit Control List (ECL).
Islamabad Customs collectors on Tuesday challenged a March 7, 2016, SHC order removing Ayyan’s name from the ECL after the model filed a petition in this regard stating she had to travel abroad for medical treatment and professional assignments.
The court asked model Ayyan‘s counsel to submit a reply in response to the customs petition in a week’s time. The SHC order to strike her name off ECL will remain suspended till then.
SC on Wednesday said that since Ayyan had no knowledge of the government notification she could not be deprived of her legal right, since the order to put her name on the ECL did not include any mention of smuggling.
Ayyan’s lawyer Khurram Latif Khosa earlier told Dawn she was currently in Pakistan and intended to stay in the country until the cases pending against her finally concluded.
Appeals by Customs officials have expressed the apprehension that if Ayyan Ali is allowed to leave the country, she may not return to face legal proceedings still pending against her.
Ayyan was apprehended while attempting to travel out of Pakistan with US $506,800. The amount was seized by customs when she was checking in for a flight to Dubai at Benazir Bhutto International Airport (BBIA) on March 14 this year.
A special customs court formally charged her with attempted currency smuggling last month, almost nine months after she was arrested. A trial into the case is currently underway.
Ayyan pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The SC has suspended SHC order to remove model Ayyan Ali’s name from the Exit Control List.
