Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government has changed the rules controlling citizens’ exit from the country following which 3000 names were struck off from the black list also known as Exit Control List (ECL).This is in an attempt to end the practice of keeping people on the no-fly list for years and even for over a decade.Rana Sanaullah, Pakistan’s interior minister, said a person’s name put on the Exit Control List (ECL) would automatically be removed after 120 days.
The automatic omission from ECL will not apply to cases of terrorism, heinous crimes and threat to national security, cases forwarded by registrars of the Supreme Court, high courts and banking courts, drug trafficking, Ponzi schemes and cheating public at large.
In addition to that, people involved in Ponzi schemes and cheating the public at large involving hundreds of affectees can also be placed on the ECL from now on.
The changes have been made to Rule 2 of Exit from Pakistan (Control) Rules, which define grounds to prohibit a person from going abroad. A new rule (4-A) has been added under which a representation seeking review will be decided within 30 days.Moreover, the black list, which currently had names of over 30,000 people, would also be reviewed, the minister said, expressing hope that the task would be done within weeks. He said that on the directives of PM Sharif, fool-proof security was being provided to former Prime Minister Imran Khan. “The security, as approved by the former PM’s principal secretary Azam Khan, is being provided to Imran Khan,” he said, as per the newspaper.
Sanaullah said the former premier had written to the government seeking fool-proof security in the wake of threats to his life. If the present government is successful in simplifying the procedure for the ECL, while adding the requisite checks and balances so that the list is not abused for political purposes, it would have done good service to the citizens of Pakistan.
However, this would require not just the changes made so far by the federal cabinet, but also stringent rules that make it difficult for the government of the day to slide back to the old days of political persecution. It might seem appropriate that Mr Sanaullah has made exceptions for those on the list who are wanted for serious crimes, but at the same time, it needs to be specified as clearly as possible why someone should be slapped with travel bans. The government will have to present the said evidence before the ECL committee, and once they approve it, the duration will be moved forward.”
Moving on, the interior minister said 30,000 people were placed on the black list and the Provisional National Identification List (PNIL). He added that since the number of people on the lists is huge, there will be changes to them as well in the next few weeks.
Sanaullah said that since 60-65pc of the people have been removed from the ECL, a similar move would be made with regard to the other lists as well.Moving on, the interior minister said 30,000 people were placed on the black list and the Provisional National Identification List (PNIL). He added that since the number of people on the lists is huge, there will be changes to them as well in the next few weeks.
