Islamabad: Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah on Friday said the federalcabinet had approved amendments in the Exit Control List (ECL) Rules thatafter 120 days the name of a person would atomically be deleted from theECL in case allegations were not proved.
Speaking at his maiden press conference after assuming the charge of theministry, the minister said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, soon aftertaking oath of the office, paid attention towards the grave issue and setup a committee to come up with the amendments in ECL Rules within threedays.
The committee comprising Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Azam Nazir Tarar, Syed NaveedQamar and Maulana Asad Mehmood completed the task within the stipulatedtime, he added.
Sana Ullah said in the past, the people were put unnecessarily in the ECLto pressurize them, adding the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) wasalso used to pressurize the opponents of the then government.
The minister said currently names of 4,863 persons were on the ECL and theamendments would benefit around 3,000 of them.
He said initially the name of a person could be put on the ECL for 120days, and the time period could be extended further till 90 days, but forthat the government would have to provide solid proofs.
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However, he said, the accused involved in terrorism, anti-state activitiesor those whose names were put on the court orders, would not get any relieffrom the amendments.
The ECL Rules were amended purely on merit and would be for all thecitizens, he added.
The minister said it was also decided to review the black list, whichcurrently had names of over 30,000 people. He expressed the hope that thetask would also be done within weeks.
On the directives of PM Shehbaz Sharif, he said, foolproof security wasbeing provided to former prime minister Imran Khan. “The security asapproved by the former PM’s principal secretary Azam Khan Azam is beingprovided to Imran Khan.”
