Pakistan: Ex-premier barred from traveling abroad

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - Pakistani authorities on Wednesday barred a former premier facing trial in a multimillion dollar corruption case from traveling abroad, local media reported.

Yousaf Raza Gilani, who served as premier from 2008 to 2012, was stopped by security authorities at Lahore airport from leaving for a conference in South Korea, local broadcaster Geo News reported.

Gilani’s name has been placed on a no-fly list -- commonly known as Exit Control List -- which means he cannot travel abroad without government permission.

A federal anti-corruption court in the southern port city of Karachi last year indicted Gilani -- who is also vice chair of the opposition Pakistan People Party (PPP) -- and 25 other government officials for misuse of authority and their alleged involvement in approving fraudulent trade subsidies. They pleaded not guilty.

Gilani, who also served as speaker of the lower house from 1993 to 1996 and several times as federal minister, was disqualified by the Supreme Court in 2012 for not writing to the Swiss government to reopen a money-laundering case against former president and then-PPP chairman Asif Ali Zardari.

In a statement, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the current PPP chair, criticized the government move, calling it a violation of his fundamental rights.

He said that Gilani and other party leaders would not be cowed by “cooked-up” corruption cases -- a reference to a money laundering case involving Bilawal, and his father, and former President Asif Ali Zardari.