ISLAMABAD – In a surprising legal order, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday directed the interior ministry to place the name of a three-year-old girl on the exit control list (ECL).
Shaukat Aziz Siddique of the IHC passed the directives while hearing a case related to custody battle for the child filed by Sadia Malik.
Malik is seeking recovery of her daughter Minsa from her former husband Muhammad Asif and during Thursday’s hearing, Asif’s sister asked the court to give them six days to produce the minor girl before bench since her father was not ready to hand the girl over to her mother.
The court granted Asif’s family some time to produce the girl. However, it barred the family from taking the girl out of the country.
The court also directed to release with warning two brothers of Asif, who had been arrested for submitting false affidavits about the girl travelling abroad.
The two men had allegedly told the court in false affidavits that the girl’s father had taken her to Dubai but the immigration officials said they found no records of the travel.
The court ordered ECL embargo for the minor girl and adjourned the case till September 6.
