‘No plans to travel abroad’: Imran unperturbed at curbs on leaving the country

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Friday “thanked the government” for putting his name on the Provisional National Identification List (PNIL), saying that “he has no plans to travel abroad”.

In a tweet, the former PM said that he neither has any properties or businesses abroad nor even a bank account outside the country.

“If and when I do get an opportunity for a holiday, it will be in our northern mountains, my favourite place on earth,” Imran added.

On Thursday, the government placed the names of several PTI leaders, and former parliamentarians including PTI chief Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi, on the Provisional National Identification List (PNIL) to prevent them from leaving the country.

The PNIL is a list like an exit control list (ECL) through which the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) stops people at airports from leaving the country. They maintained that over the last few days, some PTI leaders have tried to flee abroad to avoid arrest but FIA officials stopped them from going abroad.

Sources said that following the FIA’s request, the Ministry of Interior placed the name of Asad Qaiser, Hammad Azhar, Murad Saeed, Muhammad Qasim Khan Suri, Yasmin Rashid, Mian Aslam Iqbal, and many other leaders on the PNIL.

On Thursday, Islamabad police also requested the Ministry of Interior to place the names of PTI leaders on the no-fly list. These included Raja Khurram Nawaz, Akhlaq Awan, Ali Awan, Malik Hasnain, and Amir Ali.

The development comes following Imran’s arrest on May 9 in a case pertaining to the Al-Qadir Trust.

Since Imran’s arrest, and subsequent bail, several PTI leaders and supporters have been detained and later released.

Moreover, dozens of lawmakers and senior politicians have left the party. The resignations include founding members, core committee leads, media strategists, and members of the social media teams, all of whom have been seen as crucial to the party.

These include Fawad Chaudhry, Asad Umar, Dr Shireen Mazari, Fayyaz Chohan and others.

Meanwhile, Imran has termed his party leaders’ exodus as “forced divorce”.

“We had all heard about forced marriages in Pakistan but for PTI a new phenomenon has emerged, forced divorces,” he tweeted earlier.

“Also wondering where have all the human rights organisations in the country disappeared.”