ISLAMABAD, March 16: Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Sherpao on Wednesday said the name of Federal Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat had not been put on the Exit Control List (ECL). ?We are looking into the matter,? he told reporters after a function. An Accountability Court in Lahore had reportedly directed the interior ministry to put the names of Mr Hayat and seven others on the ECL in Shah Jewna Textile Mills reference.

?The ministry of interior has a procedure of putting a name on the ECL. This procedure takes time,? Mr Sherpao said. He said the ministry had not put any new name on the ECL. ?The ECL is still what it was one year back,? he said.

The interior minister said he fully supported Mr Hayat who had been going through a critical phase in his life. A source in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) told Dawn that the accountability court trying Mr Hayat could not grant him bail.

?According to the NAB Ordinance, the bail in all the cases which are tried in accountability courts can only be granted by a High Court or the Supreme Court,? the source said.

?The next hearing in Mr Hayat?s case in the Accountability Court in Lahore is scheduled to be held on Saturday (March 19). Before this he has to get bail from a higher court,? the NAB source said.

Meanwhile, Mr Hayat arrived in Islamabad from an official tour on Wednesday. A large number of party leaders and workers received him. Former prime minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali called on Mr Hayat and expressed his support to him, a PPP (Patriot) source said.

Secretary of Interior Kamal Shah told Dawn that the ministry of interior in sensitive cases could not put any name on the ECL on its own initiative. It did so only on the request of other departments, the interior secretary said. ?However, a suo motu action is taken only in cases of criminal nature where there is a fear the accused might escape abroad,? he said.