The Islamabad High Court has ordered the Federal Investigation Agency to immediately remove names of former PM aides Shahbaz Gill and Shahzad Akbar from the stop list while chiding the agency for acting irrationally, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah on Wednesday heard petitions filed by former PM aides and PTI leaders Shahzad Akbar and Shahbaz Gill against placing their names in the no fly list by the FIA. 

The officials from the FIA and interior ministry appeared before the court. 

The FIA officials told the court that they got a complaint from FIA Islamabad Zone to put PTI leaders’ names in the stop list on April 8. They said keeping in view the critical situation in the country at that time, they placed names of the PTI duo on the list. They further informed the court that their names were put in no fly list in assets beyond means cases against them. 

The CJ expressed his astonishment that since the PTI government was in power on April 8, how come it had made cases against its own leaders.

The chief justice chastised the FIA for its action saying what was the urgency to put their names on the stop list. Was martial law imposed in the country, he wondered.

CJ Minallah said that the court had been observing erratic behavior of the FIA for the last two years. He said the court would not let them do such things. 

The chief justice summoned report from the interior ministry in this connection and adjourned the case hearing till Monday. 

Reporter Ehtisham Kiyani