RAWALPINDI: A dedicated Pakistan International Airlines aircraft has been deputed to transport Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his London camp office back to Pakistan, PIA spokesman Danyal Gilani said on Friday.
“Due to the prime minister’s health issues, PM Office had partly been shifted to London where a camp office had been set up,” said a statement issued by the airline.
“Now that the PM has recovered after his surgery and is allowed to travel, the whole camp office has to be shifted back to Pakistan. On PIA’s regular flights, so many seats were not available, due to which the only option was to depute a dedicated aircraft,” the statement said.
The statement did not, however, mention a date for the PM’s return to Pakistan.
Shahbaz Sharif flew to London earlier this week for Eid holidays and will likely return to Pakistan with the premier.
Local media reports claim the prime minister is scheduled to return to Pakistan on July 9 after doctors gave him the go-ahead.
PM Nawaz underwent open-heart surgery at a London hospital on May 31.
The need for the surgery arose after the premier went through a cardiac procedure called Atrial Fibrillation Ablation in 2011, “during which certain complications occurred resulting in perforation of heart”, Maryam Nawaz earlier told the media.
Many had called it a politically prudent decision to leave the country at a time when opposition parties were exerting pressure on the government in the wake of the Panama leaks, however, the same reason necessitated the visit, a PML-N office-bearer had told
