Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The government on Thursday evening issued a notification excluding former president Pervez Musharraf’s name from the Exit Control List (ECL), allowing him to travel abroad.

The government also informed the relevant airport authorities of the decision, following which the former president is likely to fly to Dubai in the next 24 hours. Holding a presser in Islamabad, Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan said the government is in no confusion and has allowed Musharraf to travel out of the country in the light of Supreme Court’s verdict. He said that the former president has promised to return to the country to face cases against him, once his treatment is completed. Taking exception to Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), the minister said “the ones who presented Musharraf with a guard of honour are now doing politics of tickers”.

On Wednesday, the apex court had upheld the Sindh High Court’s verdict to strike Musharraf’s name off the ECL and left the matter to the government. Nisar said the government has decided to Musharraf to proceed abroad for medical treatment. The lawyers of the former president had approached the government and sought exclusion of his name from ECL, he said. “After receiving an application from Musharraf’s counsel, the Ministry of Interior has decided to strike Musharraf’s name off the ECL in light of Supreme Court verdict.”

He said Musharraf’s lawyers had assured the ministry that their client would return to the country in four to six weeks and would face all pending cases against him in courts. They said he was leaving only for the sake of medical treatment. The minister said as per reports, Musharraf had booked a seat for early Thursday morning, but he was told that this was not possible without formal permission from the government. Ruling out any “secret deals” on Musharraf issue, he said a “particular group” was engaged in criticising all actions of the incumbent government.

“This particular group is criticising the government for letting Musharraf go abroad and the same group will oppose keeping him in the country,” he remarked. Nisar said those who gave Musharraf a guard of honour are now playing politics through (news) tickers over court orders. Criticising the previous government of PPP, he noted Benazir Bhutto murder case was not solved during its five-year-long tenure.