Petition filed to put Sharif on Pak’s exit Control list

LAHORE: A petition was filed on Tuesday in the Lahore High Court, requesting it to order the government to place the names of ousted Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his children on the Exit Control List to stop them from fleeing the country.

The petition was filed on a day when Sharif and his sons — Hussain and Hasan, daughter Maryam, son-in-law Captain (retd) Safdar and finance minister Ishaq Dar — failed to appear for the third time before the country’s top anti-graft body which is to interrogate them over money laundering and corruption charges revealed by the Panama Papers.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had issued summons to interrogate them in its Lahore office in connection with their offshore properties revealed by the Panama Papers.

Justice Mamoon Rashid accepted the plea filed by Barrister Javed Iqbal Jaffrey and issued notices to the federal government and interior ministry to file their reply on August 25.

Jeffrey said that 67-yearold ousted Prime Minister and his children are not appearing before the NAB despite Supreme Court orders to face money laundering and corruption charges against them.

“It is very much likely that they may flee the country to evade accountability,” the petitioner said.

Meanwhile, the watchdog, irked over the Sharif family’s non-cooperation, was considering writing to the Interior Ministry to place their names on Pakistan’s Exist Control List, stopping them from leaving the country, an official said. WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump’s administration has dismissed a 15-member federal advisory committee on climate change, the media reported.

The committee members told CNN late on Monday that they learned the news on August 18 via an email sent by the acting National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration head Benjamin Friedman.

“On behalf of the Department of Commerce and the No. --------/PWD National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, I am writing to inform you that per the terms of the charter the Federal Advisory Committee for the Sustained National Climate Assessment (Committee) will expire on August 20, 2017,” the email read.

“The Department of Commerce and NOAA appreciate the efforts of the Committee and offer sincere thanks to each of the Committee members for their service.”

The advisory committee was due to make recommendations to government agencies based on a congressionally mandated climate report. The federal report, required every four years, provides a comprehensive statement from the sci- entific community on where the nation stands in relation to climate change. The White House did not explain the decision to do away with the panel, but told CNN that “the Federal Advisory Committee for the Sustained National Climate Assessment was chartered in 2015 to provide advice on sustained assessment activities and products. “Per the terms of the charter, the committee expired on August 20, 2017. The National Climate Assessment 4, which is coming out next year, is not affected by this change.”

The experts who sat on the now-defunct committee warned that without their advice and guidance, the release of the federal climate report could be the equivalent of a large scientific data dump absent of useful context for a public that lacks scientific expertise.

Jessica Whitehead, a coastal communities hazards adaptation specialist in North Carolina, who also sat on the committee, said: ” “We helped the science make sense.”

Scientists have said they fear that the administration might try to bury the findings of the congressionally mandated climate report.