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| 07 May 2004 | Friday | 16 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425 |
Plane carrying Shahbaz will be asked to land at old airport
LAHORE, May 6: If and when exiled PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif returns home, the aircraft carrying him will be asked to land at the old airport and not at the new Lahore airport, according to a senior interior ministry official.
The official, who did not want to be identified, told Dawn on Thursday that the decision would help avoid any trouble at the city's main airport. He, however, did not say whether the former Punjab chief minister would be deported. But, he said, Mian Shahbaz would be taken into custody on landing.
"After taking him into custody, the authorities will allow the plane to move to the new airport with the rest of the passengers," he said. The plan, he said, was also aimed at keeping Mian Shahbaz from talking to the media.
Official sources said the operation was being supervised by intelligence agencies. "In case he is arrested, the FIA would be allowed to undertake the immigration process. The agency has also been ordered to remain vigilant regarding all international flights, especially from the UK and Middle East," an FIA official said.
The PML-N leader who plans to arrive here via Abu Dhabi by a Gulf Air flight on Tuesday (May 11) evening had so far not got his ticket confirmed, said the FIA official. However, he said, his wife and two daughters had got their seats confirmed.
Meanwhile, officials of the Punjab government continued to hold meetings on ways of handling the issue of arrival of Mian Shahbaz. A provincial government official said some quarters in the government were still skeptical about the arrival of the PML-N leader.
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