October 31, 2017
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Senator Aitzaz Ahsan has called for the name of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to be placed on the Exit Control List (ECL).
Aitzaz said if Sharif’s name is not placed on the ECL, then this would be a double-standard. According to Aitzaz, this would be a major test for the chairman of the National Accountability Bureau.
Aitzaz said that the elections will take place on their time and there will be no intervention or formation of a technocrat government.
The re-election of Nawaz Sharif as the party president is the inside matter of the PML-N, he said.
Nawaz leading the PML-N is better for the party itself, said the senior PPP leader.
Aitzaz said that Maryam Nawaz has helped the PML-N politics progress, adding that the former premier’s daughter used an aggressive style of politics.
The PPP leader said that it doesn’t matter if Shehbaz becomes prime minister or someone else as decisions will be taken by Nawaz Sharif.
Meanwhile, Sindh Minister for Industries and Trade, Manzoor Wassan said if Nawaz returns to Pakistan he might not be able to leave.
Calls for Nawaz Sharif’s name to be placed on the ECL have also been made by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Fawad Chaudhry.
Speaking to the media outside the Supreme Court on October 25, Chaudhry said the frequent travel of the former prime minister was delaying the corruption proceedings against him.
Nawaz Sharif is currently in London where he chaired a meeting of the top brass of the PML-N on Monday.
During the meeting, it was decided that the party would not accept a minus-Nawaz formula. The huddle further decided that if victorious in the 2018 general elections, the party’s prime ministerial candidate would be Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Speaking to reporters following the meeting, Nawaz Sharif said we would be returning to Pakistan on November 2.
An accountability court has issued non-bailable arrest warrants for the former prime minister and is expected to resume hearing the corruption references against him on November 3.