Interior minister says will decide NAB request to put Sharifs on ECL on merit

LAHORE: In response to criticism over dragging his feet to put the names of members of the Sharif family on the Exit Control List (ECL) in compliance with a National Accountability Bureau (NAB) request, Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal said the matter will be decided on merit.

The anti-graft watchdog requested the Ministry of Interior earlier this week to include the names of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law retired Captain Safdar on the ECL.

Speaking to the media, the minister said the matter of imposing a travel ban on Sharif, his daughter and son-in-law in line with the bureau’s request would be decided on merit.

He stressed that the ECL should not be used as a political instrument, adding that the PML-N government didn’t even uses this tool for its opponents.

NAB approached the interior ministry seeking travel restrictions on the Sharifs a day after they filed an application with the accountability court requesting it to grant a fortnight’s exemption from personal attendance from February 19.

It had also asked for placing the former premier’s sons – Hussain and Hassan Nawaz -, who are already abroad, on the ECL so that they should be arrested at airport on their arrival from London.

They had been declared proclaimed offenders over their perpetual absence from the trial proceedings.