- Setting atrocious precedents
Seven days in hospital with multiple life-threatening ailments, Nawaz Sharif’s life continues to hang by a thread. Fearing the possible repercussions of any untoward incident, “certain quarters” have reportedly asked Shehbaz Sharif to persuade the former PM to go abroad for treatment. This comes at a time when his platelets fail to rise above dangerous levels making air journey unadvisable. In view of the ITP syndrome, the doctors have stopped the administration of a key drug for heart, posing another kind of risk. Had the former PM been allowed to proceed abroad a few months earlier for treatment, his condition might not have deteriorated so badly.
Some of PM Imran Khan’s allies who are known as Mr Sharif’s bitter political rivals have requested the PM to send him abroad for treatment instead of waiting for the judiciary to take the action. Mr Khan however feels comfortable with the situation maintaining he could not give a guarantee about anyone’s life after he had provided the former PM with the best possible medical facilities and doctors. He continues meanwhile with the rhetoric about not providing NRO to any one of his political opponents.
It appears that Imran Khan is concerned only with the satisfaction of his ego irrespective of its consequences for the system, the society and the national economy. Dissatisfied with the opponents languishing in jails, he wants to change jail laws to make the life of the inmates as painful as possible. Back in August 2013 he had rushed to attend a London event meant to save the elephants, skipping the proposed All Parties Conference called to save the country and its people from the terrorist onslaught and destruction.
It is not just Mr Sharif who has been made to go through treatment that has aggravated his ailments. Former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is reportedly lodged in a death cell with solitary confinement in defiance of basic human rights and violation of the relevant laws. He too is badly in need of medical treatment. PM Khan is setting a bad tradition.
