Imran's govt denies Maryam Nawaz permission to travel abroad

The government has decided not to allow Maryam Nawaz, vice president of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and daughter of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, to travel abroad and rejected her application.

"The rules concerning placement of the name of persons on Exit Control List [ECL] do not allow the government to entertain her application to remove her name from the no-fly list," said senior lawyer and aide to the prime minister Babar Awan while talking to Dawn on Sunday.

Headed by Law Minister Farogh Naseem, the subcommittee of the federal cabinet that deals with ECL cases rejected her plea, as she had sought the facility for flying to London to look after her ailing father who is currently undergoing medical treatment, Awan said.

"In fact, the subcommittee is part of the cabinet and a formal announcement to bar Maryam from travelling abroad will be made by the federal cabinet in its meeting [on Tuesday]," Awan said.

Referring to the Exit from Pakistan (Control) Rules, 2010, the Prime Minister's aide on legal affairs said that even if a person has valid travel documents to proceed to any destination outside Pakistan, the government could stop them from leaving the country for being involved in corruption and loss to government funds.

Earlier, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information Firdous Ashiq Awan after the December 18 meeting of the Pakistan Tehreek-e Insaf's core committee had also said that the government would not accept Maryam's request.

Meanwhile, the PML-N Information Secretary Marriyum Aurangzeb, in a statement issued on Sunday, said that the government's decision to bar the daughter of the ex-prime minister from travelling abroad did not surprise anyone, considering that the PTI regime had always been desperately looking for opportunities to victimise and persecute the PML-N leadership.

Aurangzeb said that the PML-N was aware of the "prejudice and vengeful mindset" of the government that was why she had also filed a request with the court to allow her to travel abroad.