Islamabad: The Pakistan government led by Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday added the name of Opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif, who has been charged with corruption, to the no-fly list, barring him from leaving the country for medical treatment.
Earlier this month, the Lahore High Court granted Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president Shehbaz—also the younger brother of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif—permission to travel abroad once for medical treatment.
After obtaining bail, Shehbaz, 69, was about to fly to London on May 8 when a Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) team at the airport stopped him from travelling on the grounds that his name had been on the provisional national identification list (PNIL), which imposes a temporary bar on someone to leave the country.
Shehbaz was offloaded from Doha-bound flight on May 8.
Addressing a press conference here on Monday, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said Shehbaz’s name was added to the exit control list (ECL) after approval from the federal Cabinet.
A special committee of the Interior Ministry on May 12 had proposed to the Cabinet that Shehbaz should be barred from leaving the country due to corruption cases against him.
Shehbaz wanted to go to London for a medical check-up after he was bailed out of jail last month.
The interior minister said Shehbaz had not submitted any medical documents for travelling abroad or specified the treatment for his illness.
Last week, Shehbaz had challenged the placement of his name on a travel blacklist and sought one-time permission to go abroad for medical treatment.
“I have been a cancer patient and got treated in New York and London. I could not get treatment for more than seven months as I was in jail,” the top PML-N leader said, adding in light of the medical test report conducted in jail, there was a need for immediate treatment.
—PTI

Press Trust of India