LHC orders removal of Tikka’s name from ECL

Staff Report

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Monday ordered the government to remove absconder Tikka Muhammad Iqbal’s, former Punjab food minister, name from the Exit Control List (ECL). The court also ordered the deputy prosecutor general (DGP), Ahmar Bilal Soofi, to ensure that the National Accountability Bureau returns Mr Tikka his confiscated passport.

Mr Tikka filed a petition against the inclusion of his name on the ECL. His lawyer told the court that Mr Tikka was implicated in ‘wheat misappropriation case’ during Nawaz Sharif’s second government while two other corruption cases of Rs 206.6 million embezzlement were pending with an anti-corruption court. He said later NAB unlawfully transferred the cases to the accountability court for trial. He said the accountability court had no jurisdiction to try the former food minister.

The prosecution headed by DPG Ahmar Bilal Soofi opposed the petitioner and said Mr Tikka was an absconder under law and had not appeared at a single hearing in the cases against him, not did he assist any agency to probe the matters. Mr Soofi said the LHC had already issued a stay order against Mr Tikka’s trial by an accountability court. Mr Soofi requested the court to withdraw the stay order.

Maqbool Ellahi Malik, Punjab Advocate General, told the court that the government did not object returning Mr Tikka his passport and also removing his name from the ECL.

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