‘PPP not scared of travel bans’

Islamabad: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leaders on Friday said that travel bans cannot scare them. Reacting to the placement of PPP senior leaders’ names on Exit Control List (ECL), Senator Sherry Rehman alleged that Advisor to PM on accountability Barrister Shahzad Akbar vitiated Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) office regularly. Sindh Minister for Women Development Syeda Shehla Raza claimed that there was no case registered against Dr Asim Hussain at the time he was taken into custody. Earlier, government had released list of names included in ECL in money laundering case. Names of PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur were part of the list. Sindh Chief Minister of Sindh Murad Ali Shah, Qaim Ali Shah, Sohail Anwar Sial, Abdul Ghani Ansari, Bilal Sheikh and Imtiaz Sheikh’s names were also included in ECL. Names of Hussain Lawai, Mukesh Chawla, Ali Nawaz Mehr, Daud Khan, Haji Mural Akbar, Imran Mansoor Ali, Kamran Ali and Aslam Qureshi were also enlisted.  The move came days after the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) – led by FIA Director Najaf Mirza – submitted its findings before a three-member apex court bench headed by Chief Justice Saqib Nisar. The bench is hearing a sou motu case pertaining to money laundering of billions of rupees through fake bank accounts. The federal cabinet, on Thursday, decided to place the accused on the no-fly list. The decision was announced by Federal Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry. “They will be held accountable and each and every penny of the national exchequer will be recovered,” he said at a news conference. The PPP categorically rejected the JIT report findings. “I don’t accept it and the people of this country won’t accept it,” asserted Bilawal while addressing a large crowd of the PPP supporters at the 11th death anniversary of his mother, former prime minister and the slain PPP chief Benazir Bhutto at the mausoleum of Bhuttos in Garhi Khuda Baksh on Thursday.