Supreme Court moved to place Sharif, his children on ECL

LAHORE: A civil rights campaigner has gone to the Supreme Court seeking its directives for authorities to put the names of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his children and son-in-law on the Exit Control List.

Mahmood Akhtar Naqvi filed a petition in the apex court’s Lahore registry pleading with it to order the interior ministry to put the names of Sharif, his sons – Hussain and Hassan – daughter Maryam Nawaz and his son-in-law retired Captain Muhammad Safdar on the ECL.

In his petition, Naqvi submitted that the Supreme Court had earlier on July 28 disqualified Nawaz Sharif and ordered filing of corruption references against him and his children. In compliance with the court’s judgment, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is going to file four references against them, he added.

He contended that NAB chairman was empowered under the NAB Ordinance to order the arrest of a person facing corruption charges, but he was not doing so in the Sharif family case due to political reasons. He apprehended that the former prime minister and his children will flee the country to avoid their possible punishment on corruption charges.

A day earlier, the NAB had decided to file four references against Nawaz Sharif, Maryam, Hussain, Hassan, Safdar and Ishaq Dar in the accountability courts of Islamabad and Rawalpindi. The references related to the family’s Avenfield apartments in a posh London neighborhood and establishment of Azizia Steel Company and Hill Metal Establishment will be filed against Sharif and his two sons.

The third reference pertaining to the family’s companies will be filed against Hussain, Hassan and Maryam. The fourth will be filed against Ishaq Dar for possessing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.