Pak lifts ban on 65,000 people from travelling abroad

Islamabad: Pakistan will allow 65,000 nationals to go on foreign trips after removing their names from lists that bars them from leaving the country.

Among the people still on the list is name of former military dictator Pervez Musharraf who has been barred by the courts from leaving the country.

The decision was announced by Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan yesterday.

Thousands of people have been placed on Exit Control List (ECL) and visa blacklist for years for reasons ranging from militancy to petty family disputes.

"After thorough review, the government decided to delete 4,987 names from the ECL," Khan said.

He said only those individuals had been retained in ECL who had been on the list for less than three years or were linked with militancy or bared by the judiciary from going abroad.

In addition to revamping the ECL, 59,603 persons were removed from the passport blacklist, he said.

He said that in the future individuals would be placed on the ECL and on the recommendations of defence institutions, intelligence agencies or the superior judiciary.

Khan said that ECL had become a joke and in the past people having links with ministers used the clout to place on ECL over petty domestic issues.