Thursday, October 20, 2016


Exit Control List operation has been misused by Pakistani govt indiscriminately. There are people whose names are on the list since 1984 and bulk of them have been put in the 90s. According to one estimate over 52,000 are on 'Black List' alone. There are more, who do not fall under the 'Black List' category but are on ECL. THE EXIT FROM PAKISTAN (CONTROL) ORDINANCE , XLVI was promulgated in 1981 to control departure of criminals, economic offenders or people involved with terrorism. No formal procedure or monitoring of the ordinance made this law a joke. Nepotism, personal rivalry, political connections to settle scores with enemies and adversaries resulted in Ministry of Interior, Passport Office, etc issuing an order against someone not liked by authorities. Since there is no mechanism, no procedure exists to clear those who have been proved not guilty. Cyril Almeida too was a victim of this Ordinance. But he is lucky that hue and cry by the media help remove his name from it, although stooges like Mubashir Lucman tried their best to exploit his roots in Goa and his religion as christianity.