Federal Cabinet's Sub-committee Grants Four-week Conditional Permission To Nawaz Sharif For London

(@fidahassanain)

Federal cabinet's sub-committee grants four-week conditional permission to Nawaz Sharif for London

The sub-committee of the federal cabinet says that he is being allowed against surety bonds Rs 7 billions.

ISLAMABAD: (Urdu Point/Pakistan Point News-Nov 13th, 2019) A sub-committee of the federal cabinet gave four-week conditional permission to former three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to go to London for medical treatment.

In a press conference, Sub-committee head Federal Law Minister Faroogh Naseem and its member Akbar Shehbaz made the announcement regarding removal of Nawaz Sharaif's name from Exit Control List (ECL). The government's committee said that Nawaz Sharif was being given permission against surety bond of Rs 7 billion.

"Nawaz Sharif was seriously ill and we were not sure about it before seeing reports," said the Federal Law Minister.

The sub-committee earlier was due to make the announcement on 10:00 am but it deferred it for three times; firs time for 2 pm and then for 4 pm and finally made its announcement on 5:30 pm.

The federal law minister said that the federal government was told that Nawaz Sharif's condition was critical and the committee made Nawaz Sharif bound to return to Pakistan within four-week time.

"Nawaz Sharif or Shehbaz Sharif may submit surety bond of Rs 7 billion," said the committee head, adding that " And it will be one time permission to Nawaz Sharif,".

Shehzad Akbar said that it was the government's responsiblity to get surety bond against permission to Nawaz Sharif.

The sub-committee said that a convict cannot be sent abroad and this time he was being allowed for treatment and that too just for one time. The committee said that the federal government would issue its decision today and it wwould be upto the Sharif family whether they wanted to go or not. Shehbaz Akbar said that in the past, convicts went out of country and then they never returned.

"Nawaz Sharif's case was very sensitive and therefore, they took time to deliberate on it," said Shehzad Akbar, the Advisor to PM on Interior, adding that "Nawaz Sharif should come back after his treatment,".

Earlier, the sources said that the committee reserved its decision yesterday night. Talking to reporters outside the federal ministry in Islamabad earlier in the day, Law Minister Faroogh Naseem said that they deliberated on the matter of Nawaz Sharif regarding his departure to London for treatment and examined his medical reports. He said Nawaz Sharif was seriously ill as per reports. The reporters asked him that Nawaz Sharif was not happy over the conditions set for his departure to London to which he replied that the consent of Nawaz Sharif had nothing to do with their decision.

"We have decide this matter no matte what Mr. Nawaz Sharif says and yes, his medical reports show that he is seriously ill," said the federal law minister, adding that "We have not conditioned our decision with the consent of Nawaz Sharif,".

Nawaz Sharif who was reluctant to go to abroad for his treatment and was convinced by his brother Shehbaz Sharif rejected the conditions fixed by the PTI government regarding his departure to London for treatment, the sources said. They said that Nawaz Sharif was not happy on the conditions like the gurantee and surety bond in terms of property.

On Tuesday, the federa cabinent granted conditional permission to former three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and demanded him for surety bond, with a guarantee that he would come back to Pakistan after his treatment in London.

"His name would be removed from the Exit Control List (ECL) after some surety bond," said the sources, adding that " Nawaz Sharif has been allowed permission to go for a limited period of time,".

"What condition has been set is not yet clear," said the sources. The government also did not reveal anything about the surety bond that how much money or property Nawaz Sharif has surrendered to the government to fly abroad.

The cabinet's sub-committee has yet to give its decision regarding removal of Nawaz Sharif's name from the Exit Control List.

The sources said that the deadlock on removal of the name of former three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from ECL persisted only because the government wantd some surety bond from the former Prime Minister that he would come back to Pakistan after his treatment in London.

Earlier, the sub-committee of the federal cabinet headed by law minister Farogh Naseem expressed serious concerns over National Accountability Bureau's officials for not coming up with clear stance on the matter of Nawaz Sharif's name on Exit Control List.

The NAB officials appeared before the sub-committee of the federal cabinent but they did not carry record of the Nawaz Sharif's case with them to explain the members of the committee. The sources said that the meeting of the committee earlier was delay till after noon but the NAB officials did not take part with proper record of the case. At this, the committee snubbed the NAB officials saying that why the NAB was reluctant to share the clear stance on Nawaz Sharif's matter.

The Committee directed the NAB officials to come up with clear stance and adjourned the proceedings till 9 pm today.

Former three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif could not fly to London for his medical treatment because of his name on Exit Control List (ECL) while government and NAB have been blaming each other for last three days. Nawaz Sharif who is ill and suffering from the issue of platelets level had to go to London after the government's medical board recommended his treatment abroad.

Fida Hussnain

Fida Hussnain is a lahore based journalist. He writes on politics, religion, social issues and climate change. He is also a research fellow at University of Gujrat.