Nawaz Sharif awaiting medical procedure in UK: PMLN spokesperson

Former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif is awaiting a medical procedure in the UK which restricts his travel, a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) spokesperson has said.

The 70-year-old three-time former premier's aides in the UK dismissed the prospect of the Imran Khan-led government seeking Sharif's deportation from the UK government because he was in the country on medical grounds on a visit visa.

"Mian Sahib is here on medical grounds and is awaiting a medical procedure," a PML-N UK spokesperson said on Monday.

"He is here on a visit visa for medical treatment and wasn't handed over to the UK government," he said, in reference to the deportation claims emanating from Pakistan.

Sharif left for London in November last for treatment after the Lahore High Court allowed him to go abroad on medical grounds for four weeks.

According to the PML-N UK aides, Sharif is due to undergo a similar medical procedure which resulted in health complications a few years ago. Meanwhile, he is keenly waiting for a "visit by his daughter", Maryam Nawaz, if she is granted bail and allowed to travel abroad.

According to Sharif's physician, the top leader of the PML-N is suffering from complex multi-vessel coronary artery disease and substantial ischemic and threatened myocardium for which he is due to undergo surgery.

"It is time to bring back the VIP prisoner who is having a lavish stay abroad," Firdous Ashiq Awan, the Special Assistant to the Pakistan Prime Minister on Information, was quoted as saying in Islamabad over the weekend.

"The government has decided in principle to write a letter this week to the British government, seeking deportation of PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif, as he is an absconder not fulfilling the terms and conditions of the bail granted to him on medical grounds," she said.

Last week, the Punjab government refused to extend Sharif's bail, declaring that it had found no "legal, moral or medical ground" necessitating an extension in his stay abroad.

The Lahore High Court had, in October last year, granted bail to Sharif on medical grounds for four weeks, allowing the Punjab government to extend it further in the light of his medical reports.

The Islamabad High Court had also granted bail to Sharif in the Al Azizia Mills corruption case, in which the former prime minister was serving a seven-year jail term, clearing his way to travel abroad for medical treatment.