ISLAMABAD: The government has placed Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President and National Assembly Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif on the Exit Control List (ECL), Minister for Interior Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed announced on Monday.
The same was also confirmed by Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry who said that the measure was taken after approval from the cabinet and completion of legal requirements. “The [air travel] record has also been updated,” he in a tweet.
کابینہ کی منظوری اور قانونی ضابطے مکمل ہونے پر نون لیگ کے رہنما شہباز شریف کا نام ایگزٹ کنٹرول لسٹ پر ڈال دیا گیا ہے اور متعلقہ ریکارڈ اس ضمن میں اپ ڈیٹ کر دیا گیا ہے
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) May 17, 2021
In a related development, Shehbaz also filed a contempt petition against six Federal Investigation Authority (FIA) officials in the Lahore High Court (LHC) for keeping him from flying abroad despite a LHC order. The agency on May 8 had refused him permission to leave the country, telling him his name was placed on Provisional National Identification List (PNIL).
Shehbaz was released on bail in April, seven months after he was arrested by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on charges of money laundering and graft.
Subsequently, on May 8, the high court also permitted him to travel to the United Kingdom for a medical check-up between May 8 and July 3 for a medical check-up in a ruling that drew criticism from the government. Sharif had petitioned the court, saying he is a cancer survivor who now needs treatment abroad.
Angered, Fawad described the ruling as a “joke” that he said could help Sharif “escape the law as his brother did” in 2019.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Rasheed said that Shehbaz had not submitted any documents to support his request for medical treatment or specified the treatment for his illness.
“He was the guarantor for his brother Nawaz. But instead of bringing him back, he was trying to flee without having any Suhoor. This is the only country in the world where, in the span of a day, a case was accepted for hearing, a decision was announced […] and a [air] ticket was booked.”
“Five members of the Sharif family have already escaped,” he recalled. The absconding members of the Sharif family include deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif, Ishaq Dar, Abid Sher Ali and Shehbaz’s son Suleman Shahbaz.
All the accused in the cases involving Shehbaz are on the no-fly list except the former Punjab chief minister, he said, adding that under the Constitution, all suspects are to be treated the same.
Rasheed further said that the Ministry of Interior issued the notification after receiving approval from the cabinet, adding Shehbaz had two weeks to request a review of the decision.
AGENCIES USED FOR ‘POLITICAL ENGINEERING’:
The high court in its May 7 orders had observed: “Keeping in view the past conduct and travel history, the fact that name of the petitioner is not in [ECL] at the moment, the name of the petitioner in blacklist, if already placed, will not stop the petitioner from one-time visit to UK […] as per his personal commitment made before this court.”
After Shehbaz was not allowed to travel, the PML-N had said court orders were violated and vowed to file a contempt petition.
“That by now it is a matter of public knowledge and an open secret that state departments and its agencies are being employed and used as a tool for political engineering and to victimise the political opponents, instant complaint is a classic example of high handedness, utter disregard of rule of law, blatant defiance and deliberate disobedience, defeating and frustrating an order of this honourable court through contumacious and contemptuous conduct by way of resorting to false and frivolous pretext,” read the petition.
It said that the court order had been announced and read over in the presence of the deputy attorney general and two deputy directors (law) of the agency.
“The order had become a matter of public knowledge on that very date as various representatives and federal ministers of the federal government had discussed its contents and expressed reservations,” said the petition.
It argued that the reason given for not permitting Shehbaz to proceed abroad for medical treatment was “lame and false because a comprehensive mechanism as to updating of IBMS (Integrated Border Management System), placing or removal of names in the stop lists 24/7 round the clock is in vogue.”
“That the respondents with malafide intention have deliberately disobeyed, defied and disregarded the order dated May 7, 2021, which all the respondents are persisting with obdurately.
“Hence, they all have committed gross contempt of this honourable court and have rendered them liable to be proceeded against and punished in accordance with law,” argued the petition.
The petition nominated the Interior Secretary Yousaf Naseem Khokhar, FIA Director General Wajid Zia, chief of FIA Punjab chapter, and the deputy director, inspector and sub-inspector immigration posted at the Lahore airport.
It called for the respondents to be summoned and “proceeded against and punished for contempt of this honourable court in accordance with law”, along with any other relief deemed to be “fit and appropriate” to the petitioner.
