Only those recommended by the superior judiciary, defence institutions, intelligence agencies or federal government would be placed on Exit Control List (ECL). According to a notification issued by Ministry of Interior which is also available with Business Recorder, names of individuals will be put on ECL following the recommendation of Supreme Court, High Courts, tribunals have equivalent status, defence headquarters, federal intelligence agencies, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).
The notification states that people found involved in the following crimes would not be allowed to travel abroad: (a) espionage, subversion, act of terrorism, conspiracy against state; (b) any act prejudicial to the integrity, security of defence of Pakistan; (c) drug trafficking, human trafficking, money laundering; (d) person belong to proscribed organization; (e) deserters from a defence or security force or strategic organization; (f) economic crimes involving public funds and institutional frauds; and (g) tax/loan default or other state liability of more than Rs 50 million or fraud in a public corporate entity (office holder as director) subject to certificate by referring authority that the fraud amount is Rs 100 million or more subject to satisfaction by a committee constituted for the purpose.
According to the notification, 4,987 names have been deleted from ECL. Only those names have been retained on ECL whose period of placement is less than three years and/or those involved in anti-state activities/terrorism or related to proscribed organization, 4th schedulers and those placed on the orders of superior courts. Additionally, 59,603 persons placed on the Black List, have been removed with 22,491 deleted completely, 9,660 shifted to Passport Control List (PCL) and 27,452 placed on Visa Control List (VCL). Under the new policy guidelines, in cases where investigations are under way, the period of placement shall be one year, which shall be subject to review by a committee in the Ministry of Interior on the recommendations of relevant department or agency. In other cases the placement period on ECL shall be three years excluding terrorism, espionage, subversion, act of terrorism, 4th schedulers, anti-state, narcotics and human trafficking cases. The new policy also includes review mechanism and right of appeal.
Any person aggrieved by an order of the federal government may prefer on representation within 15 days to the federal government for a review of the order setting out in the representation ground on which he seeks the review. The federal government shall decide the representation made within 60 days.
The notification says a quarterly review would be undertaken by committee of Ministry of Interior in consultation with referring authorities for fresh decisions in cases where the period of placement on ECL is about to expire. The review committee of Ministry of Interior will comprise of Additional Secretary-III, Joint Secretary (Law), Joint Secretary FIA, representative of the concerned department/agency and section officer ECL (secretary of the committee).
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