The Interior Ministry, on Friday, placed the name of Opposition Leader in National Assembly and Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) president Shehbaz Sharif on the Exit Control List (ECL) for alleged possession of assets beyond his known sources of income.
According to sources in the ministry of interior, a summary was moved to put his name on the no-fly list on the recommendation from National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on February 18 after gaining approval from the federal cabinet. On Thursday, Prime Minister Imran Khan had chaired a federal cabinet meeting that had approved the recommendation in a letter written by the accountability bureau to the interior ministry.
On February 19, Sharif was placed on the provisional national identification list (PNIL) on the recommendation of the interior ministry, which stopped him from travelling abroad until the ongoing cases against him conclude.
It should be mentioned here that the ex-Chief Minister of Punjab is at present being tried for two corruption references filed by the National Accountability Bureau. He has been accused by the watchdog body in Ramzan Sugar Mills for alleged misuse of his authority as Punjab’s chief minister to benefit his sons’ factories that cost Rs 200 million to the national exchequer. Sharif has been accused of similar corruption of power in Ashiana Iqbal Housing Scheme, where he allegedly cancelled a contract illegally with regard to the housing project in 2014 and cost Rs 715 million to the exchequer. The PML-N president was arrested by the NAB on October 6, 2018, in the Ashiana Iqbal housing scheme case, after which his bail plea was approved by the High court in Lahore on February 14, and he was released after spending 90 days in custody. Sharif spent some of this time behind bars in Kot Lakhpat jail, after which the National Assembly issued his production orders to attend a session on November 23, 2016. The opposition leader was then transferred to Islamabad where his residence in the Ministers’ Enclave was declared a sub-jail.
Published in Daily Times, February 23rd 2019.
