Nawaz Sharif not fit to travel: medical report
The PML-N leader has been advised to avoid crowded places
Photo: File
Former PM Nawaz Sharif’s medical report was submitted for the eleventh time on August 11 (Wednesday) in the Lahore High Court.
Advocate Amjad Pervaiz submitted the three-page report to the Registrar’s Office.
The report said that Nawaz Sharif is suffering from heart, kidney problems, and diabetes. Doctors have stopped him from travelling. He isn’t even allowed to go to parks or any crowded place.
Cases against Nawaz Sharif in Pakistan
The PML-N founder was sentenced to seven and 10 years in prison in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills and Avenfield flats references. The former premier’s sentence in the Al-Azizia reference was suspended. He has filed an appeal seeking its annulment.
The National Accountability Bureau has filed appeals to increase his sentence to 14 years in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills case. It seeks an end to the suspension of Nawaz’s sentence in the Avenfield case too.
In October 2019, the IHC had granted Nawaz bail on humanitarian grounds. In November 2019, the government allowed him to leave the country to get medical treatment in London after his health deteriorated. He hasn’t returned since.
His bail expired in February 2020. An Islamabad court has issued non-bailable arrest warrants against Nawaz as well.
On August 5, the British authorities rejected former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s request for an extension in his visit visa. The PML-N leader’s six-month visit visa had expired, after which he had put in a request with the UK Home Office to grant him an extension on medical grounds.
The request was, however, denied by the immigration department.
Legally, Nawaz has two options now. He can either go to the British court or contact the Pakistan government for travel documents.
According to PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb, Nawaz’s lawyers have filed an appeal in the British immigration tribunal. The PML-N leader can lawfully stay in the UK until the tribunal gives a decision on the appeal, she added.
Nawaz’s passport expired in February this year. Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed had said that he won’t be issued a new one because his name is placed on the Exit Control List.
“Since August 20, 2018, Nawaz Sharif and Maryam have been [placed] on the ECL,” said Rasheed. “People whose names are placed on the ECL, they are neither issued a new passport nor are they given a new one.”
Rasheed revealed the government had no plan to bar Sharif from coming to Pakistan.
“Nawaz Sharif is not being barred from coming to Pakistan,” he said, adding that the former prime minister could be issued a special approval to fly back to Pakistan if he files an application at the country’s high commission in the UK.
