LAHORE: A day after the Lahore High Court (LHC) permitted him to travel to the United Kingdom for a medical check-up, the Federal Investigation Authority (FIA) “placed” National Assembly Opposition Leader and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif on “another list”, keeping him from leaving the country, party’s central spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb said.
شہباز شریف کو لاہور ایئرپورٹ پر ایف آئی اے نے روک لیا
شہباز شریف کا نام ای سی ایل کے بجائے بلیک لسٹ میں موجود ہے pic.twitter.com/IcLYZzkIns
— Aamir Saeed Abbasi (@AmirSaeedAbbasi) May 7, 2021
Shehbaz had petitioned the high court, saying he is a cancer survivor who now needs treatment abroad. The court on Friday evening ruled that he may travel to London between May 8 and July 3.
The verdict drew criticism from the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan, which said it will explore legal options to stop Sharif from leaving. Angered, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry described the ruling as a “joke” that he said could help Shehbaz “escape the law as his brother did” in 2019.
Shehbaz was scheduled to leave for Doha on a Qatar Airways flight from the Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore in the wee hours of Saturday. After spending ten days in mandatory isolation in the Qatar capital, he had planned to jet off to London.
However, when Shehbaz arrived at the airport to board the flight, FIA officials present there told him he could not catch the flight because his name was placed on a “person-not-in-list”, Aurangzeb said while speaking to reporters early Saturday morning.
ایف آئی اے نے شہباز شریف کا نام ایک اور لسٹ میں شامل کر دیا،مریم اورنگزیب
عدالت کے تحریری احکامات کے بعد ایک اور لسٹ میں شامل کرنا توحینِ عدالت ہے- مریم اورنگزیب
عمران صاحب کے حکم پر ایف آئی اے توہین عدالت کر رہی ہے، مریم اورنگزیب
— PML(N) (@pmln_org) May 7, 2021
The officials claimed their system had not been updated yet after the court order, she said. “Two FIA officials were present during the hearing when the high court issued its order [allowing Sharif to travel to the UK]. The court had also mentioned the flight number Sharif would take [to fly to Doha],” she added.
فیصلے کے وقت ایف آئی اے کے دو افسران کمرہ عدالت میں موجود تھیں اور یہاں یہ کہا جا رہا ہے کہ سسٹم آپ ڈیٹ نہیں ہوا
عدالت نے one time پرمیشن دی تھی اور ائیر لائین کا نمبر بھی درج ہے تحریری حکم نامے میں
— PML(N) (@pmln_org) May 7, 2021
“The proforma that was given [after not letting Shehbaz fly] states ‘of by immigration not updated in IBMS system PNIL notepad’. The FIA officials present for the court order […] they did not update the system. [Prime Minister Imran Khan’s] instructions came and Akbar carried them out,” she claimed.
Aurangzeb claimed that Chaudhry and Adviser to Prime Minister on Accountability and Interior Mirza Shahzad Akbar had been issuing statements saying they “did not accept” the order and they would make “complete efforts to stop Shehbaz”.
She also rounded on the government, saying it was focused on Shehbaz and political opponents instead of providing electricity, water, sugar, and wheat to the people.
Meanwhile, PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz condemned barring of Shehbaz by the FIA from travelling abroad.
Maryam, in a tweet, said that it is highly condemnable how the fake government has violated court order by stopping the PML-N president at the airport.
Shehbaz faces corruption charges in three separate court cases. He was released on bail last month on a court order, about seven months after he was arrested by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for involvement in money laundering and being in possession of assets disproportionate to declared income.
His brother and deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif, convicted of corruption, lives in self-exile in London. He was released from prison in 2019 on bail to seek medical treatment abroad but never returned home.
The government last December started the process to reach an extradition treaty with Britain that would pave the way for the UK to hand over the PML-N supreme leader.
