KARACHI: Pakistan’s interior minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed confirmed on Sunday the government had placed an opposition lawmaker on a no-fly list since he was accused of killing a man in November last year.
Jam Abdul Karim Bijar, who won the National Assembly election on the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) ticket, secured a protective bail in the murder case to travel back to his country from the United Arab Emirates to participate in the no-trust vote against Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Bijar’s brother, Jam Awais, a provincial lawmaker, is also accused in the killing of the young man, Nazim Jokhio, whose body was found in Malir on November 3, 2021.
According to the police, Jokhio died after being thrashed with sticks and punches during a scuffle.
“I confirm it,” the interior minister said in a brief comment while addressing a news conference after he was asked if the government had put Bijar’s name on the exit control list (ECL).
Prior to that, the government had issued a press release that mentioned a meeting of the ECL committee of the federal cabinet which took place on Saturday, saying the names of all accused in the Jokhio murder case had been recommended for placement on the no-fly list.
Jokhio had stopped to film some foreigners who were hunting houbara bustards in his village located in Sindh’s Thatta district, about 130 kilometers east of Karachi, according to a police complaint of the incident. It was said that Bijar’s brother, Jam Awais, summoned Jokhio on November 2, 2021, to his residence where he was tortured to death.
Awais surrendered to the police a few days later while Bijar reportedly went abroad to escape arrest.
On Friday, a counsel of the accused National Assembly member pleaded before the Sindh High Court (SHC) that his client wanted to return to Pakistan to surrender before the judicial authority, though he feared arrest at the airport.
The court granted him protective bail for ten-days which later prompted the federal government to put his name on the ECL.
“The protective bail is being taken to participate in the no-confidence motion, and as per reports the accused MNA is going to land in Islamabad instead of Karachi,” Jibran Nasir, a lawyer and social activist, told Arab News, adding this was despite the fact that the accused was required to appear before the trial court in Karachi to confirm his bail.
“However, he cannot go [abroad anymore] since the federal government has put his name on the ECL,” he said.
Nasir lamented the PPP did not force Bijar to come to Pakistan to face the court, though the lawmaker had now been summoned to vote against the prime minister.
Mubashir Zaidi, a TV analyst and talk show host, maintained the federal government’s move to put Bijar’s name on the no-fly list had reduced the chances of his return to the country.
