The federal government has constituted the Exit Control List (ECL) Review Committee, under the Interior Ministry, to review the names of 172 individuals placed on the ECL on the recommendation of a joint investigation team (JIT) probing the fake accounts case.
Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday after a meeting of the federal cabinet, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry said that the move is in accordance with the orders of the Supreme Court, which directed the cabinet on Monday last to reconsider its "hasty decision" of placing the names of 172 people, including those of Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and other PPP stalwarts, on the no-fly list.
The ECL Review Committee of the Interior Ministry will present a report to the cabinet next week stating the reasons "why the placement of the [172] names on the ECL should be reviewed." However, Chaudhry said that the committee will send recommendations to keep the names on the ECL and not to remove them immediately. The recommendations will be discussed in the next session of the cabinet.
The Supreme Court had taken strong exception to putting the individuals' names - particularly those of Sindh chief minister and other eminent politicians - on the ECL and warned that no one will be allowed to derail democracy which is the main component of the Constitution. "The Supreme Court will strike down the Governor's Rule [in Sindh] within seconds, if it will be promulgated against the Constitution," said the CJP. He also expressed anger over the federal ministers' statements about the JIT report. The bench warned the government to refrain from commenting on the ongoing proceedings in this case.
Earlier, the federal cabinet decided against striking down every name on the list immediately. "Those included in the list will be dealt with on case to case basis and after the probe is completed, some names will be removed from the ECL," sources said. State Interior Minister Shehryar Khan Afridi and legal experts briefed the Prime Minister about the case during the cabinet meeting.
Chaudhry reiterated that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government will not agree upon an 'NRO' with the opposition.
Answering a question about the names of Pakistan People's Party and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leaders added to the Exit Control List, the minister said the cabinet took the decision on the joint request of FIA, NAB and the JIT.
Claiming that the incumbent government had nothing to do with the accountability process, he said that neither Chairman NAB former Justice Javed Iqbal was appointed by PTI, nor were the corruption cases registered during PTI's rule.
Chaudhry also expressed his dissension with the Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif being appointed as the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee despite being accused in corruption cases. He claimed that the opposition is trying to hamper the National Assembly from doing its business since day one.
Earlier in a tweet, Chaudhry said that Kashmir is now a human catastrophe and India should come out of the state of denial and forget politics and territory and think in terms of humanity.
The minister while tagging a news item from AFP published in Daily Mail London headlined "Death toll hits new peak in Indian Kashmir," said, "India must come out of state of denial, Kashmir is now a human catastrophe, forget politics and territory think in terms of humanity."
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