Imran, Pervaiz, Tareen, others be put on ECL: PPP

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Saturday formally demanded that nine Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) federal and provincial ministers and party stalwarts including Prime Minister Imran Khan should be placed on the Exit Control List as either investigations had been initiated against them for corruption or references had been filed against them. Besides Prime Minister Imran Khan, the list contains names of federal ministers Pervaiz Khattak, Fehmida Mirza, Maqbool Siddiqui and Zubaida Jalal, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Mehmood Khan, KP Senior Minister Atif Khan, Punjab Senior Minister Aleem Khan and PTI leader Jehangir Khan Tareen. A letter sent on Saturday to Minister of State for Interior Shehryar Afridi by the PPP Parliamentarians Secretary General Farhatullah Babar further said, “More names will follow.” In a letter to Shehryar Afridi, Farhatullah Babar said if names have to be placed on the ECL merely on the basis of JIT reports, the same principle will have to be applied uniformly and without discrimination. The letter reads as, “The information minister announced on Dec 27 placing the names of PPP leaders including ex-president Asif Ali Zardari, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, MNA Faryal Talpur and Sindh CM Murad Ali Shah on the Exit Control List (ECL).“

The letter stated that the cabinet had decided to place all the 172 persons named in a JIT report on the ECL and significantly, the ECL decision by the cabinet was made within hours of the meeting of the Central Executive Committee (CEC) of the PPP in Nauderao, Sindh on the eve of 11th martyrdom anniversary of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto.”

The PPP letter stated that the CEC denounced political vendetta in the garb of accountability, demanded uniform accountability of all paid out of national exchequer and also took some important decisions to respond to current political challenges.

Farhatullah Babar stated in the letter that placing PPP leaders on the ECL immediately after the CEC meeting made clear the political motivation behind the decision. “The fact that many names in the list of 172 persons do not even contain full details also shows the hurried, knee jerk reaction to the PPP CEC meeting,” he stated.

The letter stated, “A new element in the ECL policy also seems to have been introduced. Under it the people may be placed on ECL merely on the basis of a one sided prosecution narrative without even a formal reference, court case and without taking into account defence plea.

The PPP therefore expects and demands that the names of PTI leaders will also be placed on the ECL, the letter concluded.

Manwhile, addressing a joint press conference here Saturday, KP PPP President Hamayun Khan and Gilgit Baltistan PPP President Amjad Hussain and Media Coordinator Nazir Dhoki made an appeal to Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Saqib Nisar to also place the names of those PTI leaders on the Exit Control List who were facing inquiries in the same lines on which the names of the PPP leaders were placed on the ECL. “We appeal to Chief Justice to take suo motu notice to place the names of the PTI leaders on the ECL,” the PPP leaders demanded.

Hamayun Khan said the government which came into power in the name of justice was doing injustices and if the names of those PTI leader who were facing inquiries were put on the ECL, the people would believe that the there was no discrimination.

Coming hard on Fawad Chaudhry, he said the information minister used to change parties as sometimes he was with General (R) Pervez Musharraf, PPP and now in the PTI.

He said that the PTI has formed Ehtesab Commission in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa with an agenda of political victimisation of the opposition and spent Rs800 million on it but now all the inquiries had been closed.

He said the government failed to deliver and to hide their failure, the PTI ministers were creating political anarchy through their statements and political victimisation of the opposition. “The present government is imposing agenda of the dictatorship in the name of democracy,” he said.

Gilgit Baltistan PPP President Amjad Hussain warned that if the PPP leadership was targeted, the PPP workers would give befitting response to the government.

PPP Media Coordinator Nazir Dhoki said if the name of Sindh chief minister was placed on the ECL on the basis of inquiry, the name of Prime Minister Imran Khan should also be placed on the ECL as an inquiry against him was being conducted in the NAB in a helicopter case. “We will foil all the conspiracies to weaken the federation,” he said.