LAHORE: Pakistan’s ailing opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif was reportedly not allowed to fly from Pakistan to the United Kingdom via Qatar on Saturday morning despite a top Pakistani court granting him permission to travel a day earlier for medical treatment.
The PML-N President and and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly was stopped by the Federal Investigation Authority (FIA), local media reported, and his name was allegedly placed on “another list,” preventing him from leaving the country.
The Lahore High Court had on Friday ruled that Shahbaz Sharif may travel abroad once, from May 8 to July 3. Sharif had petitioned the court, saying he is a cancer survivor who now needs treatment outside of Pakistan. His name was not on the country’s Exit Control, or no-fly list.
The development drew criticism from Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government, which said it will explore legal options to stop Sharif from leaving.
Sharif faces corruption charges in three separate court cases. He heads the opposition bloc in parliament and leads his brother’s Pakistan Muslim League party after Nawaz Sharif, a three-time prime minister was disqualified from office.
The ex-premier and elder Sharif, convicted of corruption, lives in exile in London. He was released from prison in 2019 on bail to seek medical treatment abroad but never returned home. Islamabad last December started the process to reach an extradition treaty with Britain that would pave the way for the UK to hand over Nawaz Sharif.
Shahbaz Sharif was released on bail last month on a court order, about seven months after he was arrested by an anti-graft body over alleged involvement in money laundering.
