ISLAMABAD - Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, while taking notice of off-loading of family members of prominent lawyer Ahmed Raza Kasuri from a Bangkok-bound plane Wednesday, ordered an inquiry to probe as to why ECL laws are being misused despite clear directions in this regard.
The Ministry of Interior Wednesday separately clarified that the name of model Ayan Ali, who is facing allegations of money laundering, has not been placed on the Exit Control List (ECL) as neither any court nor any investigation agency asked for it.
The interior minister more than once has publicly said that the Ministry of Interior would not misuse ECL laws anymore to settle personnel vendetta and unlike the past, ECL would not be stuffed with the names of hundreds of thousands of people without any reason.
Nisar has also ordered the ministry to write to concerned departments asking them either to give a valid reason of placing such names of persons on ECL or the same would be removed.
A statement issued by the Ministry of Interior says that interior minister has ordered the authorities concerned to immediately remove names of family members of prominent lawyer and politician Ahmed Raza Kasuri from ECL, a list managed by the Ministry of Interior and that prohibits people from flying abroad.
The unnamed spokesman of the ministry through the statement said that the minister taking strong note of offloading of Kasuri’s daughter and grandchildren from a Bangkok-bound plane has ordered to hold an inquiry into the matter as to why the ECL laws were misused despite clear directives that these could not be applied in the matters relating to family disputes. “The minister ordered to return the passports of members of Kasuri family and their names should be removed from ECL immediately,” the spokesman said. He added that Chuadhry Nisar has also asked the ministry officials to apologise from Ahmed Raza Kasuri and ordered to suspend the officer who had placed the names of Kasuri’s family on ECL.
Meanwhile, the spokesman of Ministry of Interior stated that no one would be allowed to use the ECL laws for personal, political and financial disputes. He also clarified that model Ayan Ali’s name had not been placed on the ECL as under the new procedure, any name could only be included in the ECL after recommendation by a court of law or the concerned investigating department.