LAHORE, Jan 27: Former Senator and chairman of the Pakistan Television Corporation Pervez Rashid has left the country and decided to settle in the United States.

He left the country about a week ago to join his brother in California where he is running a marble factory. “His family is still in Lahore, but will shift to the US once he gets a good source of livelihood,” family sources confirmed on Sunday.

The former Senator was one of the trustworthy aides of the deposed prime minister, and was arrested shortly after the overthrow of the Sharif government in October, 1999. However, sources say he was set free after some time on an undertaking that he would not issue statements against the government.

A number of cases are still pending against him. He had been appearing before various courts during the past several months.

He once told his friends that most of his time was spent in court cases.

He had been working with the PPP before joining the PML several years ago. He had always said he was with Nawaz Sharif and not the PML.