ISLAMABAD: Federal Cabinet had accorded approval for formation of a new committee mandated to furnish a report on overhauling the Exit Control List’s (ECL) rules, allegedly misused by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday chaired the first meeting of his federal cabinet where important decisions were undertaken. The cabinet approved the formation of Exit Control List (ECL) committee which will have full authority to place or remove names from the no-fly list.
The committee, headed by Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar includes Minister for Commerce Naveed Qamar, Minister for Communications Asad Mahmood, and Ayaz Sadiq
Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb said the said the committee’s Terms of Reference (TORs) have been finalised and asked to submit the report to the federal cabinet within three days. It would also brief the cabinet as to how the ECL law was misused during the tenure of PTI government, she added.
Marriyum said the last committee of previous Federal Cabinet on ECL was formed on in December 2020 and headed by the then Accountability Advisor Shehzad Akbar who got dictations from Imran Khan.
She said the PTI government used the ECL or watch list to politically victimize its opponents under the garb of accountability during the last four years of Imran Khan rule who was accused of all those allegations he had put on their opponents.
There was a complete process for placing name of a person on such list but in the previous government, it was Imran Khan who ultimately decided who to stay on it, she alleged. The minister added that efforts were being made to review the ECL related law so that it could not be used against anyone in the future.
She recalled that a full-fledged and so-called accountability campaign was launched against the government officers, parliamentarians, and journalists who ultimately fell prey to the NAB-Niazi nexus. The PTI government even failed to prove accusations against a single politician in the court, she added.
She said a senior officer had told PM Shehbaz Sharif during the power sector briefing that he did not do any work during the last four years owing to the fear of National Accountability Beuearu (NAB).
Marriyum lashed out at the PTI government for influencing state institutions including FIA to carry out witch hunt against their opponents. “Imran Khan used FIA against Shehbaz Sharif out of his personal grudge,” she added.
She said the Federal Cabinet had approved the appointment of Tahir Rai as Director General of FIA.
