LONDON, Oct 17: Nearly 100 people, mostly belonging to international media, left here for Dubai on Wednesday to join former prime minister Benazir Bhutto on her flight to Karachi on Thursday.

Ms Bhutto’s younger sister Sanam and long-time friend and college mate, author Victoria Schofield, accompanied them.

However, contrary to expectations no British parliamentarian or US Congressman was seen checking in at the airport Emirates counter. Sources in the PPP said that most US politicians would join the PPP chairperson in Dubai.

“The British MPs are understood to have been requested by their government to keep away from this journey because of some protest the government of Pakistan is said to have sent to the foreign office here,” the sources said.House of Lords member Nazir Ahmed, who had accompanied former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on September 10, told Dawn that he had planned to go along with Ms Bhutto as well, but cancelled the programme on learning that Pakistan had complained to the foreign office about the involvement of what they said a British Lord in its internal politics.

Lord Nazir had submitted an affidavit to the Supreme Court along with the petitions challenging deportation of Nawaz Sharif to Saudi Arabia in violation of the SC ruling. He said that he had all the right to get involved in Pakistani politics because besides being a British MP he was also a bona fide citizen of Pakistan.

He denied that he had been dissuaded from taking the trip by Sir Mark Lyall-Grant, a former UK High Commissioner to Pakistan, who is said to have been closely involved in Musharraf-Benazir negotiations.