Sharif family faces travel ban, finance minister out
CORNERED Inclusion in Exit Control List will effectively bar former PM from leaving country ISLAMABAD:
Authoritieshaveinitiatedamovetobaroustedpremier NawazSharifandothermembers of his family from leaving Pakistan even as finance minister Ishaq Dar, who is facing a graft case, has relinquished control of his ministry.
The developments will add to the woes of ruling PML-N party and the Sharif family ahead of crucial parliamentary elections scheduled to be held next year.
Sharif was disqualified by the SupremeCourtonJuly28inconnection with revelations in the PanamaPapersandisfacingseveral corruption cases.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the country’s anti-corruption watchdog, has beguntheprocesstoplaceSharif, his sons Hassan and Hussain, daughter Maryam Nawaz and herhusbandMuhammadSafdar on the interior ministry’s Exit Control List (ECL).
The inclusion will effectively barthemfromleavingPakistan.
Anaccountability or anti-corruption court had last month declared Hassan and Hussain, who live outside Pakistan, “pro- claimed offenders” or fugitives for skipping several hearings of three corruption cases filed against the Sharif family.
Thecourthasalsoissuednonbailable arrest warrants for them.
Threecaseswereregisteredby NABonSeptember8againstSharif, his children and son-in-law, following the July verdict by the Supreme Court.
HassanandHussainhavecon- tended that the summons and warrantsdonotapplytothemas they are British nationals.
On Saturday, TV news channels reported that embattled finance minister Ishaq Dar, who is related to Sharif, hadresigned.
The PML-N denied these reports but Prime Minister’s House spokesperson Musadik Malik told the media the finance portfoliowasunderthecontrolof Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as Dar, 67, is undergoing treatment in London for a heart condition.
Anaccountability court hearing the case against Dar had issuedanon-bailablearrestwarrant when he failed to appear for the fourth time on November 14.
ActingontheSupremeCourt’s July 28 judgment in the Panama Papers case, NAB filed a case against Dar pertaining to allegations that he owns assets worth Rs 831.7 million that are disproportionate to his known sources of income.
Dar has been accused of owning property worth millions of dollarsinPakistan,theUAEand theUSwhichhehadnotdeclared to tax authorities.
He continued to serve as finance minister despite being indicted by the accountability court indicted on September 27, drawingcriticismfromtheopposition. The Dawn newspaper reported the government has decided to replace Dar after gettingthenodfromSharif,andseveral leaders were being considered for the post. They include formerfinanceministerShaukat Tarin,formerStateBankofPakistangovernorIshratHusainand interior minister Ahsan Iqbal.