Ailing Sharif to travel to London on Tuesday for medical treatment

Lahore: Pakistan's ailing former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will leave for London on Tuesday by an air ambulance for treatment after the Lahore High Court allowed him to travel abroad for four weeks for medical care on his plea and rejected the Imran Khan government's condition of furnishing an indemnity bond.

A two-member bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) headed by Justice Baqar Najfi on Saturday announced the verdict on Sharif's plea challenging the Imran Khan government's condition of furnishing an indemnity bond for the removal of his name from the no-fly list so that he could travel to the UK for his medical treatment. After a marathon hearing of more than six hours, the court also ordered that the four-week duration can be extended further on the recommendations of Sharif's doctors. The court also rejected the government's condition of an indemnity bond.

"Supreme leader of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Mian Nawaz Sharif will leave for London for his medical treatment on Tuesday on an air ambulance," Marriyum Aurangzeb, party Spokesperson said in a statement issued here on Sunday.

She said that a panel of doctors examined Sharif, 69, at his Jati Umra residence in Lahore on Sunday and were are trying to clinically stabilise him, making him travel-worthy.

"He will make the journey in a fully equipped and medically staffed air ambulance," she said, adding that Sharif may proceed to the US for treatment after a brief stay in London for medical examination.

On Wednesday, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government had granted a one-time permission to Nawaz Sharif for four weeks to travel abroad for his treatment provided he submitted indemnity bonds worth rupees 700 crore. Sharif challenged this condition in the court terming it 'illegal' and a "trap" of prime minister Khan to use them (bonds) for his political gains.