The Exit Control List (ECL) committee on Wednesday removed the name of newly appointed Finance Minister Miftah Ismail from the no-fly list for five days for one time so that he could travel to the US for negotiations with the International Monetary Funds (IMF) so that the $6 billion loan programme could be resumed again.
The committee, formed earlier in the day by the federal cabinet, is headed by Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar and also comprises of Commerce Minister Naveed Qamar, Communications Asad Mahmood and PML-N senior leader Ayaz Sadiq.
The committee held its maiden meeting with Tarar in the chair during which it considered the removal of important government personalities, particularly federal ministers, from the no-fly list.
It is also mulling the removal of the names of the politicians placed on the list at the behest of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
The body is reviewing the names of the people on the list and the process of how they were placed.
It is preparing suggestions on dealing with how important political personalities, including Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, were put on the list.
The suggestions will be placed before the federal cabinet in three days.
During a news conference, newly appointed Federal Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb told the media that the cabinet had accorded approval for the formation of a new ECL committee, which was mandated to furnish a report on overhauling the rules of the no-fly list.
She added that the committee’s terms of reference had been finalised and it had been told to submit a report to the federal cabinet within three days.
“It will also brief the cabinet as to how the ECL law was misused during the tenure of the PTI government.”
Marriyum said the last ECL committee was formed by the previous federal cabinet in December 2020 and headed by the then accountability adviser Shahzad Akbar, who received dictations from former premier Imran Khan.
She added that the PTI government used the ECL to politically victimise its opponents under the garb of accountability during the rule of ex-PM Imran, who, himself, committed all the actions -- the allegations of which he later hurled against his political rivals.
“There is a complete process for placing name of a person on the list but in the previous government, it was Imran Khan who ultimately decided who will stay on it.”
The minister said efforts were being made to review the ECL-related laws so that they could not be used against anyone in the future.
Marriyum lashed out at the previous PTI government for influencing state institutions including the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to carry out a witch hunt against its opponents.
“Imran Khan used the FIA against Shehbaz Sharif out of his personal grudge.”
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