Daily Times

Former president Asif Ali Zardari reportedly reached Dubai on Thursday after his name was struck off the Exit Control List (ECL). According to a private TV channel, the PPP co-chairman left Islamabad for Dubai last night in a private aircraft.

In 2018, the names of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari were placed on the ECL after the then PTI-led government announced that the names of the 172 accused in the fake accounts case would be added to the list. The list also included the names of Zardari’s sister Faryal Talpur, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, former Sindh CM Qaim Ali Shah, Omni Group’s Anwar Majeed, Abdul Ghani Majeed, former chairman Pakistan Stock Exchange Hussain Lawai, former president National Bank of Pakistan Syed Ali Raza and others. On April 24, the Ministry of Interior removed the names of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz, Nusrat Shahbaz, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Abdullah Khaqan and Finance Minister Miftah Ismail from the no-fly list under the ECL Amendment Rules.

The interior ministry started issuing notifications for removal of those names from the ECL that had been on it for 120 days without any compelling reason. Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah had said that the names were put on the ECL for political revenge. There are names of 4,863 people on ECL, blacklist, 30,000 people in PNIL. “Yes, the ECL rules have been amended which will directly benefit 3,500 people.”