The federal government has removed the names of over 65,000 individuals from the Exit Control List (ECL) and the passport blacklist. Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan made the announcement on Wednesday and said that a separate policy would be formulated for foreigners in the near future. According to a break-up given by the minister, 4,987 names had been deleted from the ECL and only those individuals had been retained who had been on the list for less than three years, or those who were: involved in anti-state activities or terrorism; linked to proscribed organisations; placed on the fourth schedule of the Anti-Terrorism Act or those who had been placed on the list at the orders of the superior judiciary. In addition, he said, the names of 59,603 persons had been removed from the passport blacklist, of that 22,491 names were deleted, 9,660 were shifted to the Passport Control List (PCL) and 27,452 were placed on the Visa Control List (VCL). Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan maintained that the names had been revised as most of these names were put on the lists due to petty disputes and it is unfair to curtail anyone’s fundamental freedom to travel for this long. Another clause in the policy states that the persons who are put on the ECL will have a right to appeal and the referring authorities will review their case quarterly. This is a positive development to improve the freedom of the people who have been on the list for many years, denied justice because of the backlog of our courts. Any progress towards improved freedom of our citizens is a welcome and much appreciated step forward. However, the same mechanisms that created such inflated lists are still in place, including political pettiness and judicial delays. It will continue to be easy to come onto the ECL and hard to get off it.
pk.shafaqna.com
