Lahore: Ailing former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif may not travel to London on Sunday for treatment as government delayed removal of 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 Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight on Sunday morning.
"The government could not remove Sharif's name from the no fly-list (Exist Control List-ECL) as the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman was not available to issue no objection certificate in this case," a government official told PTI. He said the officials of the NAB have also sought Sharif's medical reports.
The official said that as a special case, the government may remove his name from the ECL enabling Sharif to catch his flight at 9am on Sunday, otherwise this matter will be taken up on Monday.
On Saturday, a senior PML-N leader told PTI that Sharif is leaving for London on the PIA flight on Sunday morning along with his brother Shehbaz Sharif for treatment.
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.
Special Assistant to PM Firdous Ashiq Awan said Sharif was seriously ill and Khan had clear intention that politics and health issues should be considered separately.
"PM Khan is of the view that all legal formalities must be addressed in the case of Sharif," she said.
