WASIM IQBAL & FAZAL SHER
ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Monday put the ball in Ministry of Interior’s court to decide on the removal of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s name from Exit Control List (ECL). According to a NAB official, the bureau has responded to a letter of Interior Ministry, which was forwarded on November 8 to NAB after Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shahbaz Sharif filed a formal application seeking removal of Sharif’s name from ECL. “The NAB has informed Ministry of Interior to take the decision with respect to removal of Sharif’s from ECL on its own,” he said.
However, the government sources said that federal cabinet is expected to take a decision in its meeting to be held on Tuesday (today) regarding the matter. A presentation would be given to the cabinet about excluding Sharif’s name from no-fly list and the meeting is likely to approve it on medical grounds, they said.
A subcommittee of the cabinet committee on ECL will meet today (Tuesday) to consider the issue, and it has issued notices to PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif and his representative.
Sources said that both Interior Ministry and NAB passed the buck to each other and did not make any decision.
A meeting of the federal cabinet may decide to remove the former prime minister’s name from ECL, stated some federal ministers.
Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry stated that the federal cabinet is divided on the issue of removal of Nawaz Sharif’s name from ECL as some federal ministers are opposing it. He maintained that the federal cabinet has not so far received any summary regarding the removal of Nawaz Sharif’s name from the ECL.
The ailing former prime minister was expected to leave the country on Sunday but his departure was delayed because his name could not be taken off the ECL. The former prime minister was granted bail by the Islamabad High Court in the Al-Azizia corruption case on humanitarian grounds days after he was hospitalized in a critical condition last month.
Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information Firdous Ashiq Awan stated that the decision on whether or not to allow Nawaz Sharif to travel abroad for medical treatment will depend on recommendations from the NAB and a medical board. She said, “The government does not place any name on the ECL without recommendation from NAB or a court.” She added that hopefully the government would receive NAB’s recommendations soon.
She further said that reports from NAB and the medical board were delayed due to the weekend, adding a review committee in the Law Ministry would analyze opinions of both after which the matter would be forwarded to the cabinet.
Punjab Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar on Monday said that PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif’s name would be removed from ECL on that day (Monday).
Sources said that the Ministry of Interior sought details from the medical board regarding former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s treatment abroad. The 10-member medical board that was examining Sharif during his stay at Services Hospital met at night on Sunday and recommended that the former prime minister be allowed to travel to a foreign country for tests which were not available to be conducted in Pakistan.
However, Punjab’s Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid said that provincial government has been waiting for Punjab Health Board officials’ report, asking them to identify the test that are not available at public hospitals in the country and explain why Nawaz Sharif is a high-risk patient. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb, on Sunday last, said that danger to Nawaz’s health was increasing day by day as he was being stopped from traveling abroad. Speaking to media persons, Aurangzeb said that doctors had given the former prime minister a heavy dose of steroids to prepare him for his travel abroad. She further said that an air-ambulance would arrive to take the former prime minister to London for medical treatment.
