–In formal letter to Punjab govt, PML-N president says party supremo could suffer kidney failure if not kept in cell with ‘appropriate temperature’
LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday urged the Punjab government to abstain from removing the air conditioner from the prison cell of his brother and the party’s supremo, Nawaz Sharif.
In a letter written to the Punjab chief secretary, Shehbaz, who is also the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, said that the Punjab government’s written directions to the inspector general (IG) of prisons to remove the air conditioner from the prison cell of incarcerated prime minister Nawaz Sharif would put his life at risk.
Shehbaz said that the medical board that had been examining his elder brother’s health had recommended keeping him in a room with appropriate temperature otherwise he could risk kidney failure.
“On July 17, a letter was sent on the directives of Prime Minister Imran Khan to remove the AC from Nawaz’s prison. For the sake of political victimisation, this act is an attack on my leader and brother…the [medical board’s] recommendations should be followed in their true spirit and essence,” he stated.
The copies of Shehbaz’s letter have also been sent to the Lahore High Court (LHC) chief justice and additional chief secretary of the ministry of interior of Punjab.
On July 23, Nawaz Sharif’s daughter and PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz had expressed grave concern that her father is being “held captive in the hands of his enemies who are toying with his life”.
During a press conference in Model Town, Lahore, the PML-N leader said that in her meeting with her father on Thursday, July 18, the jail doctor brought with him a report “which he showed great hesitation in presenting”.
Maryam claimed that the report revealed that his blood sugar had consistently been on the high side and it had been recommended that he be immediately hospitalised “at a medical facility of his choice”.
She said that when her father asked why a report which was dated July 3 was being shown to him two weeks later, the doctor had nothing to say.
Maryam said that she had then inquired as to why she, as a family member, “was not informed that he has angina, his blood pressure is high, his blood sugar is on the rise, and his kidneys are deteriorating”.
“It was my right to know. You may not have informed him. He can not do anything as it is since he is incarcerated, but you should have at least informed me, his daughter, or his brother.”
“You were sitting on this report. This is criminal negligence; you informed no one,” claimed Maryam.
She further recounted how, when a copy of the medical report was requested, the jail staff said that the “photocopy machine was out of order”. When Nawaz Sharif suggested that the family doctor accompany one of the jail staff to the nearby market and get them photocopied from there and retain a copy with himself, the jail staff assured him, ‘Don’t worry sir. You will get it.'”
She said that when they took her father away and she went to the incharge’s office to ask for a copy, he said he would have it sent to her residence and to date she has not received one from them. It was a “sympathiser from the Punjab government” who ultimately sent her the copy, she said.
Maryam went on to say that she had written to the Inspector General of prisons as had Nawaz Sharif’s personal physician Dr Adnan Khan stating that a copy of the report had not been provided. She said “no one had even thought it appropriate to furnish a reply”.
She claimed that the family had not been informed about a medical board constituted for emergencies by the Punjab government and lamented that a “three-time prime minister was being meted out such treatment”.
She also said that hospitalisation and further tests had been “re-emphasised” by doctors.
Moving on to Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit to the United States, she remarked on how his “pettiness” had been demonstrated when he addressed overseas Pakistanis and made constant references to the opposition.
“Instead of talking about national and international issues in America, there were threats being issued that ‘I will put a stop to his food, I will take away his airconditioning’.”
“So how I can expect a person like this to guarantee that Mian sahab’s food will be prepared in the jail premises and will be supervised? Who will supervise it and how beneficial it will be for his health, you yourself can assess.”
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