May 3, 2006	Wednesday	Rabi-us-Sani 4, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, May 2: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has condemned the government’s decision to place names of various leaders including parliamentarians from Balochistan on the exit control list (ECL).

“The use of section 2 of the Exit from Pakistan Control Ordinance 1981, is placing fetters on the fundamental rights of the said leaders as guaranteed under the Constitution,” PPP Deputy Secretary General Raza Rabbani said in a statement here on Tuesday.

Mr Rabbani said the government had scant respect for the law or the constitution, for even under the said ordinance the reasons and grounds had to be communicated to those who had been served the order.

The PPP senator said that it was a matter of concern that Senator Sanaullah Baloch, Senator Shahid Bugti, former senator Amanullah Kanrani and MNA Abdul Rauf Mengal had also been included in the ECL.

This shows the respect the government has for parliament and its members.

This was a breach of privilege of the members and would be raised on the floor of the house, he added.

By placing the names of veteran Baloch leaders and two district nazims on the ECL, he said, the government was not moving toward a political solution of the problem in Balochistan.

The government has also failed in implementing the recommendations of the Parliamentary Committee which was constituted by the prime minister, he added.

Mr Rabbani said the government must answer questions relating to the services of government servants in the ‘hard hit’ province — officers posted in Balochistan would be given special terms and conditions and in case of refusal to serve would be subject to demotion in rank.