Daily Times

The Senate’s Functional Committee on Human Rights in its meeting on Wednesday directed the interior secretary and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) director general to attend the next meeting and explain the procedure adopted to place names of individuals on the Exit Control List (ECL).

The two were also directed to brief the committee about any and all such lists maintained openly or secretly, which prohibit people from leaving the country without their knowledge of being in the list.

Chaired by Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, the meeting was held at the Parliament House and was attended among others by senators Keshoo Bai, Dr Mehr Taj Roughani, Hidayatullah, Sana Jamali, Muhammad Usman Khan Kakar, Ayesha Raza Farooq, Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari and former senator Farhatullah Babar, MNA Mohsin Dawar and MNA Ali Wazir.

The committee took up the matter of re-tabling the Anti-Torture bill, which was presented by Senator Farhatullah Babar in 2014 and passed by Senate, but could not be presented in the National Assembly.

The committee was told that the ministry had done a comparative study of two bills on the issue and the government bill, which was currently lying with the Interior Ministry, would be soon sent to the Cabinet Committee on Legislation and hopefully it would be tabled in the National Assembly in its session in January.

The committee observed that there should be no further delay in presenting the bill as Pakistan is a signatory to International Anti-Torture Convention and Pakistan should take measures to implement its commitments. The committee directed the National Commission on Human Rights, Ministry of Human Rights, Ministry of Law and Justice and Ministry of Interior to sit together and hold consultations on the draft bill on missing persons and present the same before it.

Published in Daily Times, December 13^th 2018.