Cabinet refers ECL issue to review body

ISLAMABAD: The federal cabinet Wednesday decided to send the list of 172 suspects placed on the Exit Control List (ECL) to a review committee of the Ministry of Interior.

The names of these suspects in the alleged fake accounts and money laundering case were placed on the ECL on the recommendation of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), triggering commotion on political scene particularly in relation to the Sindh government.

Briefing journalists on the cabinet decisions, which met under Prime Minister Imran Khan here, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said the decision was made in accordance with orders of the Supreme Court. The apex court had directed the cabinet on Monday to reconsider its hasty decision of placing the names of 172 people, including top PPP leadership and incumbent Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, on the ECL.

The ECL review committee, he noted, would present a report before the cabinet next week stating the reasons with regard to the placement of 172 names on the ECL. The minister explained that after looking at the material (submitted by the review committee), it would be decided on how to go about the matter.

About the procedure of adding names on the ECL, he said the relevant investigation agency first sends its recommendations to the interior ministry, which then forwards the names to the cabinet for implementation. Fawad noted that the cabinet had made the principled decision to add names of suspects to the no-fly list whenever a JIT or agency sent them and according to the same policy, these names were placed on ECL when they were sent to the government by the JIT. He pointed out that there were precedents in national politics to support the decision.

“We have seen that in Pakistan, whoever could have been helpful in investigations, fled the country and the most glaring example is of former finance minister Ishaq Dar, who had fled on then prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi’s airplane and has since not returned,” he contended.

Therefore, he continued, the cabinet would decide the fate of the 172 individuals’ names on the ECL keeping in view these bitter examples, following the review committee’s recommendations.

He also announced that the cabinet had decided to place five projects and units on the government’s priority list for privatisation and these include the 1,230MW Haveli Bahadur Shah power project, government shares in Mari Petroleum Company, Lakhra coalmines and Services International Hotel in Lahore. In addition, a cabinet committee will finalise matters regarding the sale of K-Electric.

The minister said a committee, headed by Defence Minister Pervaiz Khattak, had been tasked with identifying nearly 150 properties on prime state land. He said the list of such properties will be presented in the next cabinet meeting and a decision will be made regarding their disposal. The minister said 9,442 kanals unused land had been identified at the federal level, 56,000 kanals in Punjab and 5,258 kanals in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa so far.

Fawad announced that the government had decided to add three vacancies of judges in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) and the court will now have nine judges in addition to its chief justice. The minister pointed out that as part of the government’s flagship programme to end poverty, the cabinet decided to bring all organisations and schemes focused on social issues and poverty alleviation, such as the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) and Pakistan Baitul Maal, under the umbrella of the Poverty Alleviation Coordination Council. Headed by Dr Sania Nishtar, he noted, the council would coordinate with all departments to devise a programme to effectively lift the poor segments of society.

The cabinet decided to abolish the additional customs duty on the temporary import of major equipment of exploration drilling wells. This, Fawad explained, was done, as the government believed that foreign investment in oil and gas exploration sectors should not be taxed, but taxes should be levied on the income from such investment.

The minister said the cabinet was informed that Exxon Mobil and E&P companies were ready for ultra-deep well drilling and would begin drilling operation during the current month for which all equipment and machinery had already reached Pakistan.

He said that a high-powered committee had been formed to make efforts for development of Karachi. The convener of the body would be Sindh Governor Imran Ismail and include lawmakers from the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, the panel would suggest on utility of funds to be released by the Centre for Sindh as well as Karachi.

The cabinet, he noted, directed the Statistics Division to monitor the prices of items of daily use regularly and brief the cabinet on weekly basis. He added that accordingly, the Statistics Division would monitor and collect data on prices of items of daily use in 76 markets and 40 cities and then submit its report to the federal cabinet each week.

Fawad said the export duty on jaggery (gur) had been brought down to 2.5 percent to enhance local production and for its export. Moreover, he said, the provinces would be asked to encourage its production. He said an amount of 123 million euros as loan has been approved for Bus Rapid Transit in Peshawar. He said the cabinet also approved a loan of 130 million euros for the next phase of the project.

Fawad said the cabinet also approved Rs2.8 billion for the construction of FC Headquarters in South and North zones of Balochistan.