Cabinet meets today with exclusion of PPP leaders' names from ECL on agenda

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan will chair a meeting of the federal cabinet in Islamabad today (Thursday).

The cabinet will take up a 26-point agenda which includes an extension in the tenure of special military courts and the recommendations of a review committee on the inclusion of 172 names in the Exit Control List (ECL).

The cabinet last week referred the issue of the inclusion of the names of Pakistan People’s Party Co-Chairperson Asif Ali Zardari, his son Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, his sister Faryal Talpur, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and other politicians in the ECL to a review committee to give its recommendations in the wake of the Supreme Court’s (SC) direction in this regard.

Taking strong exception to the cabinet’s earlier decision of placing the names, especially that of the Sindh CM and other politicians in the ECL on the basis of a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) report on fake bank accounts, the SC had directed the government to review the decision.

At the subsequent hearing on Jan 7, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar directed to strike off the names of Bilawal, the chief minister and Farooq H Naek from the ECL and the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) report pertaining to the fake bank accounts case.

Apart from the committee’s recommendations, the cabinet will also discuss the Civil Aviation Authority director general’s additional charge, the extension of the Pakistan Tobacco Company’s director’s tenure and the appointment of the National Tariff Commission’s head.

It will also discuss a Memorandum of Understanding to be signed between National Defence University of Oman and Pakistan. The cabinet will likely approve the appointment of the Karachi Shipyard’s managing director on deputation.