Sharif family ECL placement awaiting cabinet go-ahead: Iqbal

Hundreds of cases pertaining to the 'no-fly-list' will also be perused by the cabinet, minister says

Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal said on Saturday that the matter of placing Sharif family members and former finance minister Ishaq Dar on the ECL had been forwarded to the cabinet for approval.

Talking to reporters in Islamabad, Ahsan said that the matter had been referred to the cabinet. He said 600 cases pertaining to the 'no-fly-list' will also be perused by the cabinet.

Discussing the case of former president Pervez Musharraf's arrival in Pakistan, Iqbal said if he did not return in a week then implementation on the exclusive verdict given in this case will start.

Former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had on Friday sought a public explanation from the government over its decision to ignore NAB counsel on placing Sharif family members on the ECL.  During his tenure, ECL policy was reshaped for the first time, he had said while responding to a query in the National Assembly.



“Prior to my tenure names were placed on the ECL even after a brawl between a couple. Now matters of the ECL are decided by a committee set up in the Ministry of Interior,” he stated on the floor of the house.

He was responding to a question of PPP-P’s Syed Naveed Qamar as why a former premier’s name was not placed on the ‘no-fly list’ which is maintained by the Ministry of Interior, despite the recommendations of NAB in this context. Nisar said as interior minister, he also eliminated the role of the secretary and the minister in ECL matters and added the committee used to decide the matters on merit.

“NAB’s decisions used to be taken seriously during my tenure. Now if the recommendations of NAB have been ignored, then it has not been decided by the committee but it has come from elsewhere,” Chaudhry Nisar stated. “The house should be informed if someone’s name was placed on the ECL and other’s not,” he said.