–FIA had stopped Wazir and Dawar from traveling as their ‘names were placed on ECL following Kharqamar incident’
Hours after the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) stopped Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) lawmakers Ali Wazir and Mohsin Dawar from flying to Kabul, citing their presence on the Exit Control List (ECL) as the reason, Prime Minister Imran Khan granted them one-time exemption from the no-fly list to facilitate their travel, reported APP.
According to a statement issued by the Interior Ministry, the names of the lawmakers were put on the ECL after the Kharqumar incident in which 14 PTM activists had lost their lives in an alleged clash with the security forces.
The lawmakers were scheduled to be in Kabul on Monday for attending the oath-taking ceremony of Ashraf Ghani, who was recently declared as the winner of the Afghan presidential elections held last year. However, when they reached the immigration counter of the agency at the Islamabad International Airport, they were stopped by the officials.
Earlier, speaking to a local news outlet, Mohsin Dawar confirmed that they had indeed been stopped at the airport by the authorities. He said that their flight was scheduled for 3:30 pm but they were stopped at 2 pm and were not allowed to board the plane.
Dawar said that their supporters and leaders, including ex-senator Afrasiab Khattak, had already flown to Kabul to attend the oath-taking ceremony, but they were stopped because the authorities wanted to punish them for “speaking the truth”.
The development was also confirmed by an FIA official, who spoke to a local news outlet about the incident. The official said that they were stopped because the agency found their names on the no-fly list.
It is pertinent to mention here that this is not the first time the PTM leaders have been barred from flying abroad. In November 2018, FIA officials had offloaded them from a plane moments before their departure to Dubai where they were scheduled to attend a Pashtun cultural event.
The agency had told them that their names were placed on the ECL a day before as they were “wanted in a case registered against them in Swabi”. However, in December 2018, Prime Minister Imran Khan had issued orders for removing their names from the no-fly list.
Later, in July 2019, the government had once again barred them from travelling abroad by placing their names on the ECL for “running an alleged campaign against the state institutions, including Pakistan Army”.
