DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Feb 13: Maulana Fazlur Rehman, chief of has own faction of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam, was shifted from the Chashma Rest House to the Lady Readings Hospital, Peshawar, on Tuesday.

A heavy police contingent arrived at the Chashma Rest House, where the JUI-F chief was being kept under detention, and told him that the NWFP government had ordered his shifting to the LRH. He was taken to Peshawar in an official ambulance, escorted by the Dera police.

According to official sources, the JUI chief had been shifted to the hospital for medical checkup.

Some other sources, however, claimed that the government had allowed Maulana Fazl to leave for Saudi Arabia to perform Haj for which the Saudi government had issued a Haj visa to him last month.

PIA has already confirmed his tickets, but there is no signal from the NWFP home department whether or not he has been allowed to proceed to Saudi Arabia. It is expected that Maulana Fazl will leave for Jeddah on Feb 16.