LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president and Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif expected to leave for Doha on international airline flight QR-621 tomorrow.
According to sources, “Preparations are in progress on an emergency basis for Shahbaz’s departure abroad where the PML-N president will undergo a medical examination in London on May 22.
The United Kingdom had added Pakistan, to its “red list” – a list of countries from where travellers are refused entry – to protect Britain against coronavirus variants. Shehbaz Sharif will quarantine in Qatar for about 10 days and then will go to London, sources added.
Sources further said that the opposition leader will probably return on July 3 after getting permission from his doctors. Earlier in the day, Lahore High Court (LHC) has allowed Shehbaz Sharif to fly abroad for treatment.
Justice Ali Baqir Najafi on Friday announced the ruling on Shehbaz Sharif’s petition seeking exclusion of his name from the blacklist. The court permitted the opposition leader to go abroad for eight weeks.
It is worth mentioning here that Shehbaz Sharif had filed a petition in LHC, stating that he is a cancer survivor and needs to go abroad for treatment, but the federal government had put his name on the blacklist.
The Ministry of Interior, federation and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) were named as respondents in the plea.
On April 23, Shehbaz Sharif was released from Kot Lakhpat Jail after getting bail from the Lahore High Court in a money laundering and assets beyond means case.
Shahbaz was arrested in September 2020 in money laundering and assets beyond means case by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) after a court in Lahore had rejected his bail application in the money laundering case.
The NAB had alleged that Shahbaz’s family had assets of around Rs16.5 million till 1990 which increased to over Rs7 billion in 2018.
