Sharjeel wants removal of his name from ECL

Says will not apply for asylum in UK or anywhere else

LONDON: Senior leader of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and former information minister of Sindh Sharjeel Inam Memon has said that he wants to return to Pakistan and live there but his name must be taken off the Exit Control List (ECL) as its “violation of his fundamental human rights.”

In an exclusive interview with Geo News here, Sharjeel Memon said that he was being “politically victimised in the overall campaign of vendetta against the PPP.” When asked if it was true that he was extensively questioned at the Heathrow Airport by the UK Border Agency (UKBA) on Sunday when he arrived from Dubai for a short visit, Sharjeel Memon agreed that he was asked questions but “just routine questions which are asked of all visitors, nothing extraordinary.” 

Sharjeel Memon has been in the news headlines after his name was added in the ECL by the Pakistani government over alleged corruption inquiries and some sources had even suggested that Pakistan might have passed information about him to several countries including the UK.

“Everyone knows that completely innocent people have been added in the ECL to victimise them. Being added in the ECL in Pakistan is a joke and no one trusts this list. I have already taken up this abuse of law with the competent courts in Pakistan and I hope that my name will be cleared. I don’t fear being on the ECL but its wrong for two reasons: I will not be allowed to leave Pakistan when I enter the country while my name is there and I will be made another Asim Hussain who is dragged through the courts daily and nothing happens,” he added.

Unverified reports did rounds that the PPP leader was “detained” at the airport and then allowed to go but Sharjeel Memon dismissed such reports and said that he was a free citizen and there were no restrictions on him and all such reports were being generated to make news out of nothing. 

“I am here to meet my son who is a student here. I have been visiting London for a long time and there’s nothing wrong with that. I have always followed the rules and I will continue to do that. If any question is asked of me by anyone, I will cooperate. I will not apply for asylum in the UK or anywhere else. Pakistan is where I want to live,” added the former Sindh minister. 

Memon said that there were no differences between Pakistan’s military establishment and the PPP government in Sindh. He said that the Rangers were carrying out operation against criminals with full support from the PPP government and the leadership. He said that it was the PPP govt which laid the foundations of the operation against terrorist by taking on the terrorists in Swat.

“The credit goes to Pakistan’s all law enforcement agencies and the provincial government for successes in operation against criminals and their handlers. The PML-N has never been sincere. The federal government promised help for the law enforcement forces but never did anything practically. The impression that the PPP is against the operation against criminals and corrupt elements has been created by a few vested interests,” he said. Memon said that the National Accountability Bureau had no evidence against him in any form.