ECL issue
The Exit Control List (ECL) has once again intruded into the
limelight with the revelation that former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi
and former finance minister Miftah Ismail have been placed, along with five
others, on it on April 26, 2019. Reportedly, a notification to this effect was
issued by the Ministry of Interior earlier in April but only surfaced now. The
notification mentions that these seven persons have been barred from travelling
out of the country on the recommendation of the National Accountability Bureau
(NAB). The seven have been targeted in the Rs 36.969 billion case related to
the award of a contract for the import of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Shahid
Khaqan Abbasi is accused wrongdoing in awarding the 15-year contract for an LNG
terminal when he was petroleum minister in the cabinet of former prime minister
Nawaz Sharif. He has repeatedly said since the inquiry was initiated (or rather
reopened in 2018 after being closed in 2016) against him that there was no
illegality in the award of the LNG import contract and that he can prove his
innocence at any forum. He is of the view that the import of LNG was the need
of the hour in 2013 when the country was facing an acute shortage of gas. Miftah
Ismail is also being probed in connection with the case, although he asserts he
had nothing to do with the matter. Certainly his relatively short stint as
finance minister towards the dying days of the previous Pakistan Muslim
League-Nawaz (PML-N) government lends credence and weight to his denial
regarding an issue when he was not even in the government, let alone
responsible for the matter. As for Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, he has recently
returned from a private family visit to the US. It appears therefore to be an
anomaly how he was allowed to travel abroad if his name was on the ECL. This is
not the only controversy surrounding the free use of the ECL against opposition
leaders alone.
The question that arises is whether, in the light of the
seemingly arbitrary ECL regime and its targeting of opposition figures, there
exist any objective criteria for the use of the restriction or is it a case of
the arbitrary use of a tool found handy to harass opposition figures. The only
circumstances in which it makes sense to apply this draconian restriction is if
the ‘suspect’ is thought to have the intent of not returning to the country
after going abroad. In the case of Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, as mentioned above,
this ‘suspicion’ is refuted by his normal return to the country after his visit
to the US. As for Miftah Ismail, there appears even less sense to the measure
since it is not evident that he had anything to do with the case since he was
not in a decision-making position when the LNG import policy was framed. This
case lays bare the contradiction at the heart of the ‘liberal’ use of the ECL
for partisan political reasons rather than any objective, lawful criteria that
meet the demands of justice and the fundamental rights of the citizen. NAB is
not above suspicion in this regard. In fact since the coming into power of the
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) government, despite the protestations of the
incumbents that they have nothing to do with the actions of NAB, which it is claimed
is operating independently, the perception is growing of a ‘collusion’ between
the present government and NAB to make life as difficult as possible for the
opposition, especially its leading figures. If the case of the two PML-N
worthies and the five officers connected to the gas sector are one more example
of the wilful use of the ECL for political considerations, perhaps it is time
for parliament and the judiciary to lay down objective criteria for its use so
as not to deprive any citizen of the liberty to travel out of the country
without some solid reason.
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