Islamabad: Deposed Pakistan Premier Nawaz Sharif's brother and Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) leader Shahbaz Sharif has been permitted to visit the US for medical treatment from his exile in Saudi Arabia as the Kingdom has lifted travel restrictions on him at the instance of Islamabad.

Shahbaz has been permitted to leave Jeddah with the consent of the Pakistan government, Maj Gen Rashid Qureshi, Press Secretary to President Pervez Musharraf, said.

"Yes, he has gone to America. He was feeling unwell, and it was on humanitarian grounds that he has gone there," Qureshi told local media.

He declined to say whether Shahbaz had asked for permission for the US trip, but said, "It is in the knowledge of the President."

Shahbaz went to London from Jeddah on his way to New York on January 29 to undergo medical treatment after the Saudi government lifted travel restrictions on him, a spokesman for Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) said.

PML-N sources also said that no request for the trip had been made to the Pakistan government. "No request was made to the government," PML-N Information Secretary Mohammad Siddiqueul Farooq said.

The PML-N official said Shahbaz would contact his party leaders in Pakistan in "a day or two" and could probably also talk to the Press.

He also denied reports that the head of a Pakistani intelligence agency had met Shahbaz, who was also former Punjab Chief Minister, in Jeddah twice last month. Qureshi also rejected the reports as "absolutely incorrect".

PTI