Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry on Wednesday said the Punjab government’s decision to not extend former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s bail is “praiseworthy”.

The federal minister took to Twitter and said the next step should be to determine whether Nawaz Sharif’s reports, on which he was granted bail, were forged.

He said an independent commission should be formed to find out the responsible persons if the medical reports of the erstwhile premier, who is currently in London for treatment, were fake.

The Punjab cabinet on Tuesday refused to extend Nawaz Sharif’s bail. While addressing a press conference, Provincial Law Minister Raja Basharat said the extension in the bail period cannot be granted on medical and legal grounds.

The minister told that Nawaz Sharif has not been admitted to any hospital yet for proper medical treatment. He said the medical board held several meetings and examined the medical reports of Nawaz Sharif which were provided before departure.

The law minister said after the rejection of extension, the bail granted to the former prime minister will ultimately be canceled.

Health Minister Dr Yasmeen Rashid said the issue of extension in Nawaz Sharif’s bail will be decided by the court. She said that Nawaz Sharif failed to produce any medical report to justify his request for an extension in bail.

In a separate statement, Fawad had said social media websites must come under national tax net as Pakistan has paid a hefty amount to foreign companies.

“It [social media regulatory act] is not unusual as the rest of the world had taken that initiative of regulating the social media already for the stoppage of hateful and harmful content,” adding: “Moreover innocent users would be safe from the cyber victimization.”

“Safety of National security and curb of hateful content is the first priority of the government, the national coordinator, review committee and high court would decide to remove any suggested content, he informed.