Former military ruler Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf has been denied permission to travel to Saudi Arabia to condole the death of King Abdullah.
Sources at the Interior Ministry said that the former president had made a request to travel to Saudi Arabia to offer condolences over the monarch’s death to the Saudi royal family. Musharraf, in his request, stated that King Abdullah had been like a brother to him which was why he wanted to travel to the kingdom, the sources said.
However Musharraf’s request was rejected by the Interior Ministry due to his name being included in the Exit Control List (ECL), which bars people from leaving the country.
Earlier reports suggested that the government had in principle agreed to allow the former president to leave the country.
A source had said that Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan was among the few members of the cabinet who had been trying to persuade the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leadership to soften its stance on Musharraf, particularly when the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s sit-in was ongoing and there were rumours of a military takeover.
Musharraf’s name was added to the ECL due to multiple high-profile cases pending against him, including high treason and murder.
