Lahore: Uncertainty prevailed over Pakistan’s ailing former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s travel to London on Sunday for treatment due to the government’s failure to remove his name from the no fly list.
The 69-year-old Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo agreed on Friday to go to the UK for the treatment, heeding doctors’ advice and accepting his family’s request. He was scheduled to leave for London on a PIA flight on Sunday morning.
“The government could not remove Mr Sharif’s name from the no fly-list (Exist Control List-ECL) as the National Accountability Bureau chairman was not available to issue no objection certificate in this case,” a government official told PTI.
He said the officials of the National Accountability Bureau have also sought Sharif’s medical reports. The official said that as a special case, the government may remove his name from ECL enabling Sharif to catch his flight at 9am on Sunday, otherwise this matter will be taken up on Monday.
Earlier, a senior PML-N leader told PTI that Nawaz Sharif is leaving for London on a PIA flight on Sunday morning along with his brother Shahbaz Sharif for treatment. “Although his name is still on the no fly-list but the Imran Khan government has assured us that it will be removed today evening,” the leader said.
The PML-N leader chided Prime Minister Imran Khan for backing out of its commitment in which he said that he had no objection on Sharif’s travel abroad for treatment. (PTI)
