News Desk |
The federal cabinet, under the orders of the Prime Minister, has decided to remove the names of MNAs Mohsin Dawar and Ali Wazir from the Exit Control List (ECL). The decision was taken in a meeting chaired by the Prime Minister today, Thursday, 20th December. The meeting took place at the Prime Minister House to discuss a 26-point agenda.
Finance Minister Asad Umar was expected to brief the cabinet on the state of the economy, investment, and cut in government expenses. Review of FATA reforms and Islamabad Master Plan, as well as the formation of the Federal Commission, were also on the agenda of the meeting. The cabinet would also review its course of action about the formation of Local Government Board, maximum prices of medicines and return of Afghan refugees.
Mohsin Dawar said that Pashtuns living and working in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had invited them and they were stopped at the Bacha Khan International Airport in Peshawar as they reached there to take the flight.
On Wednesday, the 12th of December, Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights Chairman Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar had asked the Ministry of Interior to make transparent the procedure through which names are placed on the Exit Control List (ECL), raising concerns over the ‘ambiguous’ practices.
During a meeting, Khokhar said two members of the Senate committee, PTM MNAs Mohsin Dawar, and Ali Wazir, were placed on the ECL while Hamza Shahbaz was also stopped from travelling abroad. He argued that many irregularities had been witnessed in the practice of placing names on the no-fly list.
Additional Interior Secretary Dr. Tariq Sardar briefed the committee that it was the federal government that issued directives to the ministry about whose name to be placed on the ECL. The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Friday, 1st December, released Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) leaders and sitting MNAs, Ali Wazir and Mohsin Dawar after it briefly detained the parliamentarians from Peshawar airport.
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Dawar and Wazir were on their way to Dubai to attend a Pashtun cultural event when the FIA officials offloaded them from the plane moments before the departure. The FIA officials reportedly had told them that their names were placed on the Exit Control List (ECL) one day ago “as they were wanted in a case registered against them in Swabi”. Later, they were shifted to Hayatabad office of the agency.
After being released, on 3rd December, Member National Assembly (MNA) from North Waziristan Mohsin Dawar said that arresting elected representatives was an insult to the mandate of the people of Waziristan.
Mohsin Dawar said that Pashtuns living and working in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had invited them and they were stopped at the Bacha Khan International Airport in Peshawar as they reached there to take the flight. “We were told at the immigration counter that our names were in the Exit Control List,” he said.
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Back in August, both the lawmakers had taken part in a public gathering of the PTM in Swabi which had landed them in trouble. Both of them along with other PTM supporters and leaders were charged with multiple offenses, including rioting and removing the country’s flag from a building after a public meeting in Swabi.