ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s home ministry yesterday said they were not immediately lifting a travel ban on former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, who suffered a heart problem on the way to his treason trial earlier this week.
The 70-year-old former ruler was taken ill and rushed to a military hospital on Thursday as he was being transported under heavy guard to hear treason charges against him at a special tribunal in Islamabad.
The former army chief was yesterday spending his third day at the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology in Rawalpindi, the garrison city bordering Islamabad. His lawyer Ahmed Raza Kasuri said doctors were monitoring his condition in the intensive care unit.
The sudden health scare was met with scepticism from some observers and feverish media speculation that his departure from Pakistan on medical grounds could be imminent.
But Musharaf’s name has been put on an official “Exit Control List” (ECL) to bar him from travelling abroad, and a court in the Southern Sindh province ruled last month against lifting the ban.
He denied reports that Musharraf’s wife Sehba has filed a application with the ministry seeking to lift the ban. Kasuri said earlier yesterday that the doctors have sent his medical reports to experts in Britain, who will determine his further treatment.
AFP
