Under the exit control list (ECL) policy, approved and implemented by the present government in 2015, a five-member committee of the interior ministry will approve or disapprove the NAB request for placing the names of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Safdar on the ECL.
The ECL policy was notified on September 16, 2015. The policy, while giving the parameters for placement of any name on the ECL, states that it will be done on the recommendation of Supreme Court, high courts, tribunals having equivalent status, defence headquarters, federal intelligence agencies, National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the federal government.
These recommendations, according to the notification, will be reviewed by the committee of interior ministry.
The committee comprises additional secretary, joint secretary (law), joint secretary (political/FIA), representative of the department/agency concerned (which made the recommendation) and section officer (ECL), who is also the secretary of the committee.
The parameters set by the policy for considering any name on the ECL include those involved in (a) espionage, subversion, act of terrorism, conspiracy against state; (b) any act prejudicial to the integrity, security of defence of Pakistan; (c) drug trafficking, human trafficking, money laundering; (d) person belong to proscribed organisations; (e) deserters from a defence or security force or strategic organisation; (f) economic crimes involving public funds and institutional frauds; and (g) tax/loan default or other state liability of more than Rs50mn or fraud in a public corporate entity (office holder as director) subject to certificate by referring authority that the fraud amount is Rs100m or subject to satisfaction by a committee constituted for the purpose.
In 2015, while notifying the policy, the federal government had announced to have removed the names of over 4,957 individuals from the ECL and only those persons were retained on the ECL whose period of placement was less than three years or those involved in anti-state activities/terrorism or related to proscribed organisations, 4th schedulers and placed on the orders of superior courts.
Under the policy, in cases where investigation is under way, the period of placement shall be one year, which shall be subject to review by a committee in the Ministry of Interior on the recommendations of 
relevant department or agency.
In other cases, the placement period on the ECL shall be three years excluding terrorism, espionage, subversion, act of terrorism, 4th schedulers, anti-state, narcotics and human trafficking cases.
The policy also includes review mechanism and right of appeal for those challenging the inclusion of their name on 
the ECL.
The policy says that any person aggrieved by an order of the federal government may refer a representation within 15 days to the federal government for a review of the order, setting out in the representation grounds on which he seeks the review.
The federal government shall decide the representation made within 60 days. According to the policy, a quarterly review is undertaken by a committee of ministry of interior in consultation with referring authorities for fresh decisions in cases where the period of placement on ECL is about to expire.
According to interior ministry sources, with the exception of the clear orders from the judiciary, most of the recommendations for putting names on the ECL by the concerned organisations including NAB have been rejected by the interior ministry since the introduction of the new policy.
In the cases of NAB, an official source said that the official committee generally considers if the accused appear before the NAB or other courts or are 
absconders.
A senior officer, who has been the member of the committee, said that the committee had placed the name of Sharjeel Memon on the ECL only because he was not appearing before the court.
Following the introduction of the new ECL policy, the official source said, most of the requests from departments (except SC, HCs) have been rejected and only in limited cases the committee have approved the request for placing the name on the ECL.