Sharif refuses Pak govt's conditional permit to travel abroad

Lahore: Pakistan's ailing former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday refused to meet Imran Khan government's demand to submit indemnity bonds worth Rs 700 crores for travel to the UK for medical treatment, saying it was "illegal" and denounced attempts to politicise his health.

On Tuesday, Pakistan Cabinet decided to allow 69-year-old Sharif to go to the UK for medical treatment if the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo agrees to sign surety bonds making a commitment that he would return after the treatment and face corruption cases against him.

The Cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Khan, approved removal of Sharif's name from the no-fly list (Exit Control List-ECL). "We have categorically told the government that Sharif would not submit any indemnity bonds worth Rs 7 billion (Rs 700 crores) to the government for removing his name from the no-fly list enabling his departure for London for his treatment," a PML-N leader quoted Sharif as saying.

"Nawaz Sharif said the government demand is illegal and can't be met in the presence of the court guarantees." Nawaz also showed his annoyance over the government's 'tactics' to politicise the issue of his health. "The government cannot hold another court of its own on the earlier decision of the Islamabad High Court that granted Sharif eight weeks bail on medical grounds," the PML-N leader told PTI, adding the Sharif family may move the court for removal of his name from the ECL if the government did not decide in his favour on Wednesday.

"If something happens to Sharif , Imran Khan and company will be responsible as he is critical and government is using the opportunity for their dirty politics," he said.

According to his party an air ambulance is arriving in Lahore on Wednesday to shift him to London if the government removes his name from the ECL. Sharif is under treatment at his Lahore's Jati Umra House. His platelet count is said to unstable and is critically low.

Sharif is suffering from multiple health complications, including erratic platelet count, and is currently being taken care at his residence near Lahore where an ICU has been set up. Sharif agreed on Friday to go to the UK for 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.

However, he could not leave as his name figured in the no fly-list. The former prime minister was lodged in the Kot Lakhpat jail but last month he was sent to the custody of the NAB which is probing the Sharif family in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills corruption case.

On December 24, 2018, an accountability court had sentenced Sharif to seven years in prison in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption case and acquitted him in the Flagship case. On October 29, the Islamabad High Court suspended Sharif's sentence in the Al-Azizia corruption case for eight weeks on medical grounds. The Sharif family has denied all corruption charges and termed them as politically motivated.