Maryam Nawaz remains on ECL

Islamabad: The government has decided to not remove Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz’s name from the Exit Control List (ECL) in any case.

Sources said her name would be entered in the no fly list in another case as well, and in order to put an end to an impression that a national reconciliation ordinance (NRO) has been given to the PML-N, the party’s leader will be restricted from going abroad.

The PTI’s ideological leaders are under deep concern on the government’s behaviour, and are expressing concerns over the party’s conduct “similar to that of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the PML-N.

The leaders are disturbed at the line of reasoning regarding the difference between the PTI and other political parties after adaption of such political attitude.

They opined that the party members were finding it difficult to justify former premier Nawaz Sharif’s move to London after his fresh picture taking tea at a restaurant along with some members of his family went viral on the social media on Monday.

After leak of the picture, the Buzdar administration swung into action and sought latest reports about Mr Sharif’s health from his personal physician Dr Adnan Khan so that it could decide on his application seeking extension to stay abroad for treatment.

Earlier, the government decided to put Maryam’s name in the ECL in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills corruption case.

It is pertinent to mention that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Lahore wrote a letter to the federal government for putting her name on the no-fly list.

According to details, the anti-graft watchdog maintained that investigations against the PML-N leader were ongoing in the mentioned case.

An accountability court in Lahore had granted Maryam an exemption from appearance till reference were filed by the anti-corruption body in the aforementioned case. In Avenfield case, her name was already put in the ECL.

On July 6, 2018, accountability judge Mohammad Bashir had convicted former premier Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz in Avenfield properties reference and sentenced them 10 years and 7 years imprisonment, respectively.