Senate panel calls for restructuring ECL policy

A parliamentary body Thursday called for restructuring the Exit Control List (ECL) policy with an aim to shortening the long process for placement and removal of name on the list.

The Senate Standing Committee on Interior which met with Senator Rehman Malik in the chair decided to restructure the ECL policy in order to curtail methodology for putting and excluding a name from the no-fly list.

The committee in its meetings held on October 28, 2018 and December 31, 2018 considered "The Exit from Pakistan (Control) Amendment Bill, 2018." The Ministry of Interior had opposed the bill.

Malik said that in the proposed bill, the words 'competent authority' should be substituted with words 'federal secretary, Ministry of Interior' for all purposes including placing or deleting the person from the ECL.

When Senator Dr Shahzad Waseem questioned what is wrong with the approval of the federal cabinet for placing and deleting name of any person on/from the ECL, he said that federal cabinet's oversight over the matter related to the ECL is necessary as it is very sensitive issue. However, he said that there is no harm to restructure the existing policy.

Malik said that a number of applications come for placement and removal of names on/from the ECL on daily basis and under the policy it is mandatory to move a summary for every case to the cabinet. The cabinet after receiving the summary places it on its agenda for scheduled meeting, he said, adding that the cabinet meeting then discusses the summary and seeks comments regarding it.

He said that this is a long process and there is a need to curtail it. The minister for interior and secretary interior are also part of the government, he said. The committee decided to restructure the ECL policy and discuss the existing policy in the next meeting.

According to the officials of the Ministry of Interior, documenting the rules and policy are currently followed for placing and deleting the names on/from the ECL and these include Exit from Pakistan (Control) Ordinance 1981, Exit from Pakistan (Control) Rules 2010 and ECL Policy, 2015.

It says that all the cases of ECL are disposed of by the cabinet in accordance with the rules. In case of direction by any court of law, names are placed or removed on/from the ECL immediately with the approval of minister for interior. The cabinet's approval is solicited subsequently. In case of urgency, approval of the cabinet is obtained through circulation in terms of the rules 17(1) (b) of the Rules of Business, 1973. The document says that the cabinet has constituted a cabinet sub-committee on the ECL comprising minister for law and justice; minister for interior; special assistant to the PM on accountability; and secretary Interior Division.

The committee condemned the highly unethical, immoral and inhuman statements of Indian senior leadership and the recent statement of a senior retired Indian army officer SP Sinha, an active member and leader of Indian ruling party Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in which he justified the rape of Kashmiri women by the Indian troops which is a tragedy of this century and a big black mark on the Indian nation.

The committee demanded the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to take up the matter with the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and register a protest with the UNSC against the highly immoral statement of retired army officer.

While briefing the committee, Acting Director General Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Ahmed Mukarram said that the Agency had sent two different teams to Turkey and United Kingdom in June this year. The FIA teams visited internment centers in the both the countries and interviewed Pakistanis languishing there. On the basis of information provided by Pakistanis in these countries, the agency has taken action against many smugglers, he added.

He said that the FIA team interviewed over 3,000 Pakistanis in different camps of Turkey. Illegal migrants from Pakistan often use Turkey as a transit route to European states, he added.

The DG FIA said that with efforts to take action against human traffickers, Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP Report) of US State Department removed Pakistan from tier-2 watch-list and raised the ranking of Pakistan to tier-2.

The tier-2 is for the countries which although do not meet the minimum standard, yet they are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance, whereas the watch-list consists of the countries where the number of trafficking is significantly increasing.

The committee deferred Pakistan Penal Code (Amendment) Bill 2019 till next meeting and also summoned minister for law and justice and secretary law to properly brief the body regarding the amendment.

The Pakistan Penal Code (Amendment) Ordinance 2019 was promulgated by the president of Pakistan on July 16, 2019 to amend the section 3 of Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), 1860. In the section-3 of PPC, a proviso shall be inserted namely:-"Provided that where the accused has been extradited into Pakistan or brought into Pakistan under any arrangement with a foreign country or authority other than extradition or where against an accused any evidence is used in court which has been obtained from a foreign country, the court upon conviction may punish such accused with any punishment provided for that offence except punishment of death."

According to the statement of objects and reasons of the bill, many crimes have their origin, basis or linkages in the other countries; therefore, in most of the cases, it is imperative that evidence available in Pakistan or other countries can be collected so that justice can be done without delay. But foreign countries did not entertain the request on the basis that the material required should not be used in criminal proceedings to apply for a sentence of death for any person charged in this matter. This means the evidence received cannot be used in trial offence wherein punishment of death can be awarded.

The committee expressed its concern over the applicability of the bill, saying that there is sufficient ambiguity on the manner for implementation of the proposed law.

The committee also took suo motu notice on alleged sexual assault and murder of a five-year old girl Gul Sakina in Pewar area of district Kurram Agency, who was allegedly sexually assaulted and found dead in a water pond.

The meeting was attended by senators including Rana Maqbool Ahmed, Kulsoom Parveen, Muhammad Javed Abbasi, Muhammad Tahir Bizenjo, Mian Muhammad Ateeq Shaikh, Sardar Muhammad Shafiq Tareen and Shahzad Waseem. The secretary interior, chairman Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), DG FIA, DG Passport and Immigration, DG Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment, chairman CDA and other senior officers from the Ministry for Interior, Ministry for Parliamentary Affairs and Ministry of Law and Justice also attended the meeting.