Pak's former PM barred from leaving country

Pakistan's former Prime Minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, was barred from leaving the country due to the ongoing National Accountability Bureau (NAB) case against him.

He was stopped from departing for Seoul - to attend an international conference - despite claiming to have informed the judge about his participation in the summit.

"My basic human rights have been violated by barring me from travelling, despite the fact that I had informed the NAB judge regarding my World Summit departure," Gilani told The Express Tribune.

"I have been appearing before the courts and facing the allegations against me," the former Prime Minister said, adding that the Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government should give up the "politics of revenge".

"If a former Prime Minister faces coercion, how would a common man get protection?" he put forth, referring to the incident.

Gilani had just visited Nepal over a month back without being stopped by airport authorities. "I had visited Nepal one and a half months earlier to attend the Asia Pacific Conference," he mentioned.

His name has been placed on a no-fly list, known as the Exit Control List (ECL), in relation to the trial in a multi-million dollar corruption case against him. He was indicted, along with 25 other government officials, last year by an anti-corruption court in Karachi for misuse of authority, amongst other charges, to which he has pleaded not guilty.