Islamabad: Pakistan government has said it has granted permission to four members of deposed premier Nawaz Sharif's family to visit Lahore to attend a wedding ceremony.

The four family members of Abbas Sharif, brother of Nawaz Sharif, were given permission to visit Lahore this week and they would return to Saudi Arabia, where the Sharif family was exiled to in 1999 under a deal with the military regime, after attending the wedding in the family, Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat said.

No other member of the Sharif family will visit Pakistan without permission, Hayat, a Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) defector, who joined the government of Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, was quoted as saying by the local daily 'Dawn'.

He said except the four members of Abbas's family, who arrived in Lahore on January 14, no other person from Sharif family had sought the permission.

The Minister said no member of Sharif family could return without getting permission from his government, adding the deposed premier's family members were bound to keep themselves away from any political activity during their stay in Pakistan.

An Interior Ministry spokesman said the four members, who have come to attend the wedding, have been given one week's time to stay in the country.

PTI