ECL issue

The Exit Control List (ECL) has once again intruded into the limelight with the revelation that former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and former finance minister Miftah Ismail have been placed, along with five others, on it on April 26, 2019. Reportedly, a notification to this effect was issued by the Ministry of Interior earlier this month but only surfaced now. The notification mentions that these seven persons have been barred from travelling out of the country on the recommendation of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). The seven have been targeted in the Rs 36.969 billion case related to the award of a contract for the import of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is accused of wrongdoing in awarding the 15-year contract for an LNG terminal when he was petroleum minister in the cabinet of the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif. He has repeatedly said since the inquiry was initiated (or rather reopened in 2018 after being closed in 2016) against him that there was no illegality in the award of the LNG import contract and that he can prove his innocence at any forum. He is of the view that the import of LNG was the need of the hour in 2013 when the country was facing an acute shortage of gas. Miftah Ismail is also being probed in connection with the case, although he asserts he had nothing to do with the matter. Certainly, his relatively short stint as finance minister towards the dying days of the previous Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government lends credence and weight to his denial regarding an issue when he was not even in the government, let alone responsible for the matter. As for Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, he has recently returned from a private family visit to the US. It appears therefore to be an anomaly how he was allowed to travel abroad if his name was on the ECL. This is not the only controversy surrounding the free use of the ECL against opposition leaders alone.
The question that arises is whether, in the light of the seemingly arbitrary ECL regime and its targeting of opposition figures, there exist any objective criteria for the use of the restriction or is it a case of the arbitrary use of a tool found handy to harass opposition figures? The only circumstances in which it makes sense to apply this draconian restriction is if the 'suspect' is thought to have the intent of not returning to the country after going abroad. In the case of Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, as mentioned above, this 'suspicion' is refuted by his normal return to the country after his visit to the US. As for Miftah Ismail, there appears even less sense to the measure since it is not evident that he had anything to do with the case since he was not in a decision-making position when the LNG import policy was framed. This case lays bare the contradiction at the heart of the 'liberal' use of the ECL for partisan political reasons rather than any objective, lawful criteria that meet the demands of justice and the fundamental rights of the citizen. NAB is not above suspicion in this regard. In fact since the coming into power of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) government, despite the protestations of the incumbents that they have nothing to do with the actions of NAB, which it is claimed is operating independently, the perception is growing of a 'collusion' between the present government and NAB to make life as difficult as possible for the opposition, especially its leading figures. If the case of the two PML-N worthies and the five officers connected to the gas sector are one more example of the willful use of the ECL for political considerations, perhaps it is time for parliament and the judiciary to lay down objective criteria for its use so as not to deprive any citizen of the liberty to travel out of the country without some solid reason.