HYDERABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party MPA Sharjeel Inam Memon has raised questions over the mechanism for exit control list (ECL) and dared Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan to also put names of prime minister, his family, Ishaq Dar and Shahbaz Sharif on ECL since they, too, like him face cases in courts.

He asked whether the interior minister put peoples’ names on ECL on the basis of personal likes and dislikes and accused the prime minister of using the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for victimising PPP.

Mr Memon said in his address to a sizeable gathering in Narejani union council, his constituency, here on his arrival from Dubai on Sunday evening that he had returned to surrender before courts and face consequences like his leaders Z.A Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari.

He said the interior minister who was trying to be more loyal than the king and usually remained unavailable to media in the wake of a major terrorist incident would start holding hours long press conferences after the dust had settled.

He said the minister put his name on ECL even though he was abroad at that time and dared him to include names of prime minister Mian Nawaz Sharif, his sons, Ishaq Dar and Shahbaz Sharif on the list. He asked whether Nisar puts names on ECL on the basis of personal likes or dislikes.

He asked the interior minister to explain why cases were not lodged as per his own claim against those who were responsible for taking money in Asghar Khan’s case, and criticised him for restoring national identity cards of the people associated with banned outfits within 48 hours of their cancellation. “What kind of law is this? Whether Pakistan is Nawaz Sharif’s personal fiefdom?” he remarked.

Mr Memon said that when details of mega scandal were submitted to the apex court, PML-N leaders Pervez Rasheed and Chaudhry Ayaz Sadiq and even Nawaz Sharif issued threatening statement against NAB. He would continue to expose Mr Sharif, he added.

It was only PPP which had to face conspiracies. Z.A. Bhutto made Pakistan’s defence impregnable and Asif Ali Zardari laid the foundation of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, strengthened parliament and had the 18th amendment passed that had done away with 58(2b). Otherwise, President Mamnoon Hussain would have dissolved PML-N government during Imran Khan’s prolonged sit-in, he said.

He said that letters from Qatar could not save Mr Sharif because he had been badly exposed in mega corruption scandal of Panamagate. He advised the PM not to keep harping on the same line of motorways and tell the nation how many billions of rupees were misappropriated in yellow cab and ‘sasti roti’ schemes or laptops’ distribution.

He accused Mr Sharif of destroying the economy. “Sharif only knows of projects in which iron can be used,” he alleged. PPP would sweep next general elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan as well as Punjab, he added.

PPP Sindh information secretary Senator Aajiz Dhamra also hit out at Mr Sharif and accused him of victimising PPP leadership through NAB.

The Sharif government had ignored Sindh in the distribution of projects under the Public Sector Development Programme, he said, adding Pakistan was no one’s ‘jagir’.

He said that Sharjeel was victimised on his arrival in Islamabad to break his spirit and scare him away once again. But, he said, PPP leaders never ran away, it was Mr Sharif who signed the first part of National Reconciliation Ordinance and fled to Saudi Arabia after tendering an apology while Sharjeel returned to Pakistan with court’s bail order in his pocket.

Earlier, Mr Memon was accorded a warm welcome by his supporters who brought to a ground in a caravan where he addressed them. He was accompanied by Sindh ministers Imdad Pitafi, Jam Ikram Dharejo, Mukesh Chawala, his son Rawal and other party leaders.

Leaders of PPP Hyderabad chapter Pir Amjad Shah, Saghir Qureshi, Imdad Pitafi, Jam Ikram Dharejo, Mumtaz Jakhrani, Seth Badar Memon and Hussain Tariq Shah Jamote also spoke at the gathering.

Published in Dawn, March 27th, 2017