On Tuesday, ex-Prime Minister and PMLN Premier Nawaz Sharif left for London for treatment purposes after being granted bail on humanitarian grounds from Kot Lakhpat Jail, where he was imprisoned for seven years sentence for corruption in Al-Azizia case. The former PM was also a suspect in the ongoing case of Chaudhary Sugar Mills’s case.
In the early morning, an air ambulance came to Lahore and took ailing Nawaz to London for treatment purposes. Nawaz’s brother Shahbaz Sharif an opposition leader in the National Assembly and Dr. Adnan Khan a personal physician of Nawaz’s family also left along with Nawaz Sharif.
On 11th October, NAB Lahore issued an arrest warrant of imprisoned Nawaz in Chaudhary Sugar Mills case and presented him before the Accountability Court on the same day, wherefrom NAB got his physical remand until 25th October.
But, on 21st October, Nawaz’s personal physician Dr. Adnan Khan met with ex-PM and expressed concerns over his health, and recommended for immediate hospitalization, in a tweet.
Following these cautions, Shahbaz Sharif demanded the Punjab Government in a statement to shift his brother to the hospital. The NAB then shifted former premier to Services Hospital, Lahore on the same day in the mid-night due to deteriorating his health.
On 26th October, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) granted bail till 29th October to Nawaz Sharif on humanitarian grounds in Al-Azizia case in response to a plea filed by NA’s opposition leader.
On 16th November, a two-judge bench of Lahore High Court (LHC) comprising Justice Ali Baqar Najafi and Justice Sardar Ahmed Naeem allowed former PM Nawaz Sharif to go abroad for treatment for four weeks which is extendable on medical reports, and the court ordered the federal government to removed Nawaz’s name from Exit Control List (ECL) without any condition.
The federal government furnished the condition of indemnity bonds amounting to 7-7.5 billion rupees and allowed former PM Nawaz Sharif to travel abroad for medical treatment after several meetings and deliberation.
The writer is a student of BS Media and Communication Studies at International Islamic University, Islamabad.