Pakistan government bars Imran Khan, wife from leaving country: Report

Imran Khan and several top leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party are facing cases following the violence after he was arrested on May 9 in a corruption case

Islamabad: Pakistan’s government has barred former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife along with at least 80 people from leaving the country, a media report said on Thursday.

Khan and several top leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party are facing cases following the violence after he was arrested on May 9 in a corruption case.

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“The federal government has decided to add the names of 80 people, including PTI Chairman Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi, to the no-fly list,” the Samaa News channel reported.

However, there was no official confirmation on the development from Khan’s party.

In addition to Khan and Bushra, those included in the no-fly list and barred from travelling abroad include PTI leaders Murad Saeed, Maleeka Bukhari, Fawad Chaudhry and Hammad Azhar, Qasim Suri, Asad Qaiser, Yasmin Rashid and Mian Aslam, the channel said.

Fawad Chaudhry has already quit the party but his name has been listed among those who cannot fly out of Pakistan.

The names of all the PTI leaders were put in the list on the recommendation of the “institutions concerned”, the news channel reported.

It said that the police department, National Accountability Bureau and the anti-corruption department had requested the Ministry of Interior to include these names to the no-fly list.

The no-fly list is maintained by the Ministry of Interior and officials deployed at airports or other land exit routes are provided the names of individuals who cannot go out.

Pakistan authorities maintain different categories of people who are banned from leaving the country for various reasons, including those who face corruption cases.

But these lists had been used in the past by the governments to muzzle the opposition.

When Khan was the prime minister, names of several high-profile personalities, including PML-N leader and current prime minister Shehbaz Sharif, were put on the no-fly list.