The federal government on Tuesday considered the issue of former President and army chief General Pervez Musharraf's name on Exit Control List (ECL) deeply and thoroughly. A day after a special court indicted Musharraf, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif invited senior members of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) but they could not reach any decision due to a difference of opinion among them. Allowing Musharraf to travel abroad might give an impression that he left as a result of a secret deal with PML-N.
According to sources, this was a major concern shown by some of the members who opposed the removal of former chief of army staff's name from ECL. They were of the view that allowing Musharraf to go abroad would make it difficult for PML-N MPs to defend the decision. The anti-Musharraf group in PML-N insisted that he must be made an example to set a precedent.
However, the sources said, they were in agreement that Musharraf could be allowed to leave the country if he tendered a public apology in a manner similar to what employed in the case of nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadir Khan. The father of country's nuclear power was allegedly forced to apologise to the nation for alleged smuggling of nuclear centrifuges to Iran and North Korea by him.
"Let the court decide as we've put his [Musharraf] name on ECL on the directives of Sindh High Court and now it will be removed on the orders of the court so let the law take its course," a source quoted the prime minister Sharif as telling his cabinet colleagues. This is pertinent to mention that the name of General Musharraf was placed on ECL last year on the directives of Sindh High Court. Besides, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had also requested the government to bar him from going abroad.
When contacted, Dr Farogh Naseem, the counsel for General Musharraf who submitted an application on behalf of his client to the interior ministry, stated that he still awaited a response from the government. "They have not given us any reply whether they are going to remove the name of General Musharraf from ECL or not...so let's wait and see how things move forward," he added.
To a question about moving the court if the government turned down his request, he said that it would be decided later as they were yet to get any response from the interior ministry. However, another member of General Musharraf's legal team, Ahmed Raza Kasuri, told mediamen outside Supreme Court building that they would approach the court for removing the name of the former army chief if the ministry refused to withdraw his name from ECL.
The meeting was attended by Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Information Minister Pervez Rasheed, Mehtab Abbasi, Ahsan Iqbal, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Adviser on National Security Irfan Siddiqui, Khawaja Zaheer and others.
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