ISLAMABAD: The interior ministry finally struck model Ayyan Ali`s name off the Exit Control List (ECL) on Wednesday, some three weeks after the Supreme Court turned down its appeal to keep her name on the list.

Interior Secretary Arif Khan confirmed that Ayyan`s name had been removed from the ECL in pursuance of the apex court`s orders.

`Formal orders in writing of the court received only this evening. We have complied, he said.

The Supreme Court had on Jan 30 turned down the interior ministry`s appeal to keep model Ayyan Ali`s name on the ECL and upheld the Sindh High Court`s (SHC) verdict to remove her name from the list. Chief Justice Saqib Nisar, who headed the three-member bench that heard the appeal, said it seemed as if the governmentwanted to stop the model from leaving the country at any cost.

Deputy Attorney General Sajid Ilyas Bhatti, who represented the ministry, argued that the model`s name was added to the ECL on a request of the Punjab home department (in the murder case of Customs Officer Ejaz Mehmood).

The SHC should have listened to the prosecution`s arguments about the reasons behind the inclusion of her name in the list before handing out the verdict, he said.

Ayyan was nominated in a case relating to the murder of thep customs of ficer in 2015.

The officer was reportedly investigating a money laundering case involving the model.

In its appeal to the Supreme Court, the interior ministry maintained that the model`s name was put on the list on Punjab`s request and thus it could not be removed by the SHC.