Pakistan’s embattled finance minister Ishaq Dar has been relieved of his duties after the ailing politician, declared a proclaimed absconder by a court in the Panama Papers case, requested leave for three months, media reports said on Thursday. Dar, 67, had arrived in London nearly a month ago and has been seeking treatment at a Harley Street hospital.
Dar sent a three-page letter to the Prime Minister’s Office on Monday seeking leave of absence. In it, he narrated his health condition, saying that his surgeon had asked him to avoid international air travel. He said his medical tests in UK showed “diffuse coronary heart disease and possible ischemic heart disease”, the Express Tribune reported. In his letter to Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Dar said that he wishes to seek “relief for now from looking after the three divisions” that he has been heading for nearly four years.
