Dr Asim Hussain files petition to remove name from ECL

KARACHI: A request to remove Former Petroleum Minister Dr Asim Hussain's name from the Exit Control List (ECL) was filed in the Sindh High Court on Wednesday.

Dr Hussain's lawyer requested the SHC to allow his client to travel abroad for a surgery for his back ailment. 

According to the petition filed in court, a medical board advised the former minister to travel abroad for treatment. The petition further stated that Dr Hussain took an appointment with a doctor based in London for April 20 and any delay in treatment might further deteriorate his health.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Ministry of Interior, Home Department Sindh, and Inspector General of Police Sindh were made respondents to the request.

Read: Dr Asim Hussain released from prison after 19 months

Hussain was released from prison after 19 months on March 31. The SHC, on March 29, approved the former minister's bail request after he furnished his passports that were being held by the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in connection with another case.

The court confiscated both of Dr Hussain's passports, banned the government from issuing a duplicate passport, and ordered the Ministry of Interior to keep his name in the ECL.  

Following his release, Dr Hussain was shifted from the Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Complex to the Ziauddin Hospital.

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto said that Dr Hussain faced mental and physical difficulties during the past 19 months.

Corruption references worth Rs 479 billion filed

Dr Hussain, a close aide of former president and PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, faces several charges including corruption references filed by NAB of Rs 479 billion. He is also alleged to have provided treatment and protection to terrorists at a hospital owned by him.

According to NAB, Dr Hussain created an artificial shortage of gas during his tenure as a result urea fertiliser prices skyrocketed and touched Rs1830 from just Rs850.

His name was first added to the ECL, on the NAB's request, on November 24, 2015.