PML-N govt allows Musharraf to travel abroad

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government on Thursday allowed former military ruler General (retd) Pervez Musharraf to travel out of the country for medical treatment.

Speaking at a press conference here, Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said the decision was taken in light of Supreme Court orders.

Ruling out any ‘secret deals’ on Musharraf issue, he said a ‘group’ criticizes all actions of the incumbent government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

“This group will criticize the government for letting Musharraf go abroad… and the same group will oppose keeping him in the country,” he said in an apparent reference to Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).

Nisar said the same group presented guard of honour to Gen Musharraf in their tenure.

Criticizing the previous government of PPP, he said Benazir Bhutto murder case was not solved during their 5-year-long tenure.

The minister said that his party’s government moved every court in the country to keep Musharraf’s name on the Exit Control List (ECL).

Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said the lawyers of the former military dictator had assured the apex court that their client would return to the country and would face the cases in courts. He said Musharraf was allowed to travel abroad on humanitarian basis.

Former president and Army Chief Musharraf could not leave for Dubai last night after his staff was told at the airport that his name had still not been struck off from the exit control list.

Musharraf was expected to stay at his Dubai residence during his time there.

On Wednesday, Pakistan’s top court allowed him to travel out of the country for medical treatment.

Hearing a petition filed by the federal government against removal of Musharraf’s name from the ECL, the apex court upheld an earlier decision by the Sindh High Court and rejected the government’s appeal to stop the former military general from leaving the country.

"Appeal is dismissed," the court said in a short order.

“As of this date, there are no restrictions on Pervez Musharraf barring him from traveling out of the country,” his lawyer Farogh Naseem told reporters outside the Supreme Court.

Musharraf, 70, is facing a number of high profile cases, including murder and high treason. He was indicted for treason last year over his imposition of emergency rule in 2007.