- Nawaz Sharif’s risky choice
The former prime minister has decided, or perhaps the decision was made for him by an influential family member, of going back from Services Hospital to the Lahore jail where he is currently incarcerated, rather than choose between the three medical institutions suggested by the fourth multi-disciplinary medical board set up by the Punjab government to examine his case. Since he is a known patient of heart disease and other life-threatening ailments, this is hardly the time to play politics, either by narrow-minded government functionaries or an over-ambitious close kin, and this extremely sensitive situation, fraught with grave consequences, needs to be resolved in a humane manner without wasting any time. In distorting the truth about ground facts, either by giving the impression of reluctant official acceptance of Nawaz Sharif’s high-risk, even suicidal, option, or the equally made-up argument of a self-respecting person rebuffing grudging government ‘mercy’ regarding his medical treatment, the onus of any sudden deterioration in his condition will rest squarely on both the antagonists. The sooner this aspect is realised, the easier it would be to reach a rational, realistic decision on the former PMs fraught health woes, leaving all concerned with a safe conscience.
That Nawaz Sharif’s present heart complication requires timely intervention has been unanimously stated by the fourth medical board of Services Hospital, Lahore. Under the circumstances the best or indeed only local option was admittance in the adjacent Punjab Institute of Cardiology, where specialised doctors and quality equipment are readily available, but this was turned down by the ex-PM, as stated by Maryam Nawaz, for the somewhat frivolous reason, especially when a human life is at stake, that her father was not a ‘gypsy’ seeking ‘mercy’ and would not tolerate any further ‘humiliation’. A similar kind of smugness, hubris and hardline stance was also the principal cause behind his political downfall, and now serving a seven year jail sentence, he is legally in no position to impose conditions and demands. Instead, the PML-N has filed a resolution in the Punjab Assembly for removal of his name from Exit Control List and treatment abroad. The government may consider this request on humanitarian grounds to end the present possibly life-threatening stalemate
