CJP orders to remove names of Bilawal, Murad from ECL, JIT report

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar ordered the government to remove the names of PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto and Chief Minister Sind Murad Ali Shah from the Exit Control List (ECL).

While hearing the Fake accounts case, a three-member bench headed by CJP Nisar directed the officials to delete paras regarding the PPP chairman and Sindh CM from the report prepared by the Joint Investigation Team.

At the outset, the Attorney General apprised the apex court on the progress made on the SC orders of placement of 172 suspects on the no fly list. He informed the bench that the Federal Cabinet had forwarded the matter to a review committee which would decide it.

The chief justice asked the JIT counsel to explain why Bilwal Zardari was dragged into the case. He is just a kid and taking his mother’s legacy forward, he observed.

The names of Bilawal Bhutto and Murad Ali Shah were included for point scoring, he remarked.

Later, the SC sent the fake accounts case to the National Accountability Bureau for further investigation with a direction to complete the probe within two months.

Earlier today, the banking court had extended the bail before arrest of former president Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur till Jan 23.