Dar says doctor has ‘conditionally’ allowed him to travel to Pakistan

Former finance minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior leader Senator Ishaq Dar on Wednesday said that his doctor had "conditionally allowed" him to travel to Pakistan from the United Kingdom. In his petition in court, Dar – who has been living in London since 2017 – said that he wanted to return to Pakistan within 15 days, therefore, the "honourable accountability court should suspend" his arrest warrant and allow him a fair trial in the case. Dar said that he is also ready to be a part of the proceedings of the honourable court. He said that his passport was cancelled by Imran Khan's government in 2018 and all embassies were instructed not to issue a new passport. Read more: PML-N leader Ishaq Dar confirms his return to Pakistan next month The PML-N leader said that the current government has recently issued him a new passport and he can travel now. Dar further said that he never ignored the notices of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) either intentionally or unintentionally. In 2017, the accountability court, while hearing a corruption reference against Dar, had declared him a proclaimed offender due to his continued absence from the proceedings. In an interview with BBC Urdu, Dar, when asked about the cases against him in Pakistan and his bail, said that he is facing only one “fake case which was filed by [former prime minister] Imran Niazi”. The PML-N leader also said that the “baseless” case against him was based on his tax return and added that he always filed his income tax return on time. "That is why when Imran Khan's government approached Interpol to bring me to Pakistan, the documents given to Interpol had no credence, so they gave a clean chit,” he added. Dar, who has served as a federal minister for finance four times between 1998 and 2017, has been living in self-exile in the United Kingdom since November 2017.

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