Exit control list

The Exit Control List has over the years served as a tool for political victimisation, mostly being used by the government of the day against the parties opposing it. As cited by none other than former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar, there are even instances of people being barred from flying abroad over petty domestic issues and people languishing on this black list for years and years. Nisar, during his time at the helm, did introduce a policy pertaining to placement of names on the ECL and removal from it, cutting off the role of even the respective minister and the secretary in the whole exercise to rid it of political clout and control.

However, the way Nawaz Sharif’s request for being taken off the ECL is being handled by the incumbent government shows that no such policy exists in effect today. The government blew hot and cold on whether or not to allow the former PM to travel abroad for medical treatment. At a public gathering in Gilgit-Baltistan some two weeks back, PM Imran Khan reiterated, with his customary vim and vigour, his long-maintained stance that he would not let the looters leave the country under a deal. Just days later, the PM was trying to convince all that Nawaz was genuinely ill, implying that his name deserved to be taken off the ECL. The impression of a deal that this change of heart created drew a backlash from the public, forcing the PM back to his initial stance.

The government was now in search of a proper justification for public consumption like a strongly-worded medical report that the ailing former PM be sent abroad forthwith or clear-cut recommendations from NAB. But with neither available, the matter landed in the cabinet which proposed travel permission for Nawaz against surety bonds valuing Rs7 billion. Not ready to give even a semblance of the Nawaz’s exit happening under a kind of plea-bargain, the PML-N rejected the proposal. A subsequent review by a sub-committee of the cabinet made no changes to the offer, in essence. Thus the deadlock till the time of this writing.

The best and the easiest way out for the government from this war of political narratives is to side with principles.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 14^th, 2019.

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