ECL: Nisar casts aspersions on Sharif family?

Former Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Friday said that non-inclusion of the Sharif family members' names in Exit Control List (ECL) means that the decision has been made somewhere else and is not taken by the Interior Ministry's committee. Nisar said this on the floor of the National Assembly in response to a question asked by Pakistan Peoples Party's member Naveed Qamar about the criteria for placing people's names on the ECL.
Qamar questioned that in some cases the names of suspects are immediately included in the ECL, but the names of Nawaz Sharif and his children have not been placed on the list despite recommendations by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). "Why is there a double standard pertaining to placing names on the ECL?" Naveed Qamar questioned while asking the government about procedure for placing names on the ECL list.
Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal and Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhary were not present in the House to answer the question of the opposition member. Nisar, however, abruptly stood up and said, "Before 2013, names in the ECL were placed through recommendation. Even in some cases if a couple had indulged into a fight, one of them was included in the ECL."
"In my tenure, I changed the policy of ECL and eliminated the role of minister and secretary in this regard," Nisar said, adding that he empowered a committee in the ministry to decide whether or not a person's name should be placed on ECL. Nisar said that the committee used to take decisions on merit during his tenure whereas the suggestion of the NAB was taken seriously in this regard.
If the committee has made this decision then the reasons should be presented before the assembly, he said, adding, "If the committee has not taken this decision then it is the violation of the same merit which they have mentioned." "If NAB's recommendation has been ignored in this case, it means that the decision has not been taken by the committee but it is made somewhere else," he suggested.
Earlier, Naveed Qamar questioned the government, "You put someone's name on ECL before [court proceedings] start against them. Even when the Panama Papers case was ongoing, and even now with accountability court hearing cases against the Sharif family [Nawaz's name is not on ECL]. Why is this policy not being followed in this case?"
Later, talking to media persons, Ahsan Iqbal said that his ministry has not received any request to put the names of the Sharif family members on the ECL. "All the cases against the Sharif family are being investigated as per law," he said.
Responding to a calling attention notice, Parliamentary Secretary for Cabinet Secretariat Raja Javed Ikhlas said that one million new gas connections are being given after lifting moratorium on commercial and industrial gas connections.
He said that a number of new gas reserves have been discovered in recent years at various locations which will help increase the supply of the important commodity in the country. He assured that preference in new gas connections will be given to such areas where gas reserves are discovered.
Ikhlas said that Iran has yet to complete work on its side of the border on the Pak-Iran gas pipeline due to which the project has not been materialized so far. He also assured the opposition members to move a summary to Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to initiate work on the pipeline. He said the work on the project could not be started due to international sanctions on Iran, dispelling the impression that Iran is moving international court against Pakistan for its failure to initiate work on the project.