Staff Reporter Islamabad
Islamabad High Court (IHC) Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani on Friday recused himself from further hearing a petition filed by former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) director general Asad Durrani seeking removal of his name from the Exit Control List (ECL). The judge did not provide a reason for his decision, saying he had taken it due to “reasons I don’t want to share”.
Retired Lt Gen Durrani found himself in hot water after co-authoring a book, titled The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace, with Amarjit Singh Dulat, the former head of India’s Research and Analysis Wing spy agency, in 2018.
After the book’s publication, the Military Intelligence (MI) had written to the interior ministry to put Durrani’s name on the ECL and the same was done in May 2018. The former spymaster challenged the move in the IHC in 2019.
When the petition was again taken up for hearing on Friday, Justice Kayani announced his recusal from the case, which he had been hearing as part of the single-member bench.
“[I] know the entire background of the case [and] was in the process of writing the judgement as well,” the judge told the court. “This is unfortunate but there are some reasons which I don’t want to share [publically].”
