PM Gilani had talked to Nabeel Gabol on telephone and asked him to come to Islamabad to avoid any possible fallout.—File photo

ISLAMABAD: Nabeel Gabol, who has resigned as minister of state for ports and shipping, rushed to Islamabad on Thursday and tried to seek Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s intervention following inclusion of his name in the Exit Control List on the orders of Interior Minister Rehman Malik, sources told Dawn.

The news of Mr Gabol’s resignation as the minister of state and later his decision to go into hiding in Karachi after some dramatic developments created ripples in political waters.

Although Mr Gabol in his resignation cited ‘personal reasons’ for quitting the post, sources close to the PPP leader said that he had in fact resigned to pre-empt a move by Pakistan People’s Party co-chairman and President Asif Zardari to get him sacked from the federal cabinet through Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani for allegedly violating the party discipline.

Mr Gabol, the sources said, now feared that his name had been included in the ECL because his own party now wanted to implicate him in some cases on corruption charges.

They said the prime minister talked to Mr Gabol on telephone and asked him to come to Islamabad to avoid any possible fallout.

The sources said that some party activists and workers were planning to hold a rally against Mr Gabol in a day or two for allegedly violating discipline.

They had held similar demonstrations against MNA Sherry Rehman and Naheed Khan allegedly at the behest of the party’s top leadership.

The sources said that Mr Zardari had issued a ‘final warning’ to Mr Gabol some three months ago and asked him not to issue any statement about the situation in Karachi, particularly about the relationship with coalition partners—the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and Awami National Party.

Mr Zardari had summoned Mr Gabol and admonished him over a controversial statement in which he had called for an army operation in Karachi to stop targeted killing. That statement had annoyed the MQM and the party had lodged formal protest with the President.

Recently talking to a TV reporter, Mr Gabol again made some indirect remarks against the coalition partners. This time ANP chief Asfandyar Wali Khan directly contacted Mr Zardari and complained about Mr Gabol’s remarks.

This infuriated Mr Zardari so much that he asked the prime minister to sack Mr Gabol from the cabinet.