Interior minister allowed Zulfi Bukhari to leave Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Interior Minister Azam Khan on Thursday admitted he granted permission to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan's close friend Zulfi Bukhari to travel abroad.

In a briefing to Senate Standing Committee on Interior, Azam said  Bukhari asked for a one-time permission to travel abroad, which was granted.

Azam said he was informed by the interior secretary that Bukhari wanted to travel to Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah with the PTI chairman, but was stopped from leaving the country due to his name being on the blacklist.

The interior secretary further told him that Bukhari had submitted an affidavit stating that he would return to Pakistan, Azam said, following which he was granted permission to travel for six days.

The interior minister rejected speculation that Imran Khan had phoned him to remove Bukhari’s name from the blacklist.

He further told the committee that National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is probing a case pertaining to offshore companies against Bukhari.

NAB had requested to place Bukhari's name on ECL. His name was placed on the blacklist in the absence of a cabinet committee so that he would not leave the country, Azam said. 

Earlier today, caretaker information and law minister Ali Zafar said that NAB had requested to place Bukhari’s name on ECL, adding that he was, however, placed on the blacklist and not the ECL.

In a media briefing, he explained that a person’s name can be taken in and out of the blacklist without the cabinet’s approval, which is required for placing or removing someone from the ECL.

IHC directs Bukhari to join NAB probe

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) earlier today instructed Zulfi Bukhari to join an ongoing NAB probe against him.

The court issued the directives while hearing two petitions together: one filed by Bukhari seeking removal of his name from the blacklist, and the other where a petitioner has challenged Bukhari’s name removal from the blacklist within mere hours which allowed him to leave the country for Umrah.

Bukhari, a close aide of PTI chairman, was barred from leaving Pakistan when he proceeded to travel to Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah on Monday, June 11. Bukhari was later granted a one-time permission to go abroad for six days by the Interior Ministry.

Sikandar Bashir Mohmand, the counsel for Zulfi Bukhari, argued that his client, a British national, left for Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah, along with PTI chairman Imran Khan, in a special flight from the Noor Khan Airbase when the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) informed him that his name was on the blacklist.

Justice Aamer Farooq of the IHC, hearing the petitions earlier today, questioned whether a blacklisted person could be allowed to travel abroad.

“On whose orders did the Interior Ministry remove [Bukhari’s] name from the blacklist?” the judge asked, demanding that it be given in writing to the court that a blacklisted person’s passport is not confiscated.

“[Some people] have [as many as] four passports and misuse the law,” Justice Farooq remarked.

A NAB prosecutor informed the court that Zulfi Bukhari failed to appear before the accountability body despite being issued notices.

Bukhari replied to a summons on March 20 that he is a British citizen and NAB lacks the jurisdiction to investigate him, the prosecutor said, adding that the bureau was not informed whether the Interior Ministry had placed his name on the blacklist.

Interior Ministry officials informed the bench that they had received a letter from the NAB on May 10 requesting that Bukhari’s name be placed on the Exit Control List.

The ministry placed Bukhari’s name on the blacklist after receiving the letter, the officials informed.

According to Bukhari’s petition, he is facing an inquiry and the NAB has issued multiple notices to him since February this year. The petitioner responded to the third notice saying that since he was a British national, NAB lacked the jurisdiction to investigate him.

‘No reason given for placing name on blacklist’

Zulfi Bukhari, speaking to reporters outside the IHC, said he was not given any reason for placement of his name on the blacklist.

“My name was not on ECL, it was on the blacklist,” he clarified, adding, “I have only one passport, and I travelled abroad [on that passport].”

Bukhari added that if summoned by NAB, he would appear before the bureau after consulting his lawyers and tell the investigators about his businesses.