Islamabad/Lahore: Pakistan’s ailing former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif would be given a ‘one-time’ permission to travel abroad for his medical treatment for four weeks against indemnity bond worth over Rs 700 crore, Law Minister Farogh Naseem announced on Wednesday. However, Nawaz Sharif and his PML-N party have refused to submit the bond. They have said it is ‘illegal’ and denounced attempts to politicize his health.
Nawaz Sharif, 69, is suffering from multiple health complications, including erratic platelet count, and is currently being treated at his residence near Lahore where an ICU has been set up.
The Pakistan cabinet Wednesday decided to allow Sharif to go to the UK for medical treatment if the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo agrees to sign surety bonds making a commitment that he would return after the treatment and face corruption cases against him.
Announcing the latest move after chairing a consultative meeting of the Cabinet’s sub-committee, Naseem said the permission to Sharif will be allowed to go abroad for treatment.
“Keeping in mind his adverse critical medical condition, Nawaz Sharif will be given four-week long, one-time permission to travel abroad for medical treatment,” Naseem told reporters.
“This permission will be subject to Nawaz Sharif or (his brother) Shehbaz Sharif submitting an indemnity bond to the tune of roughly Rs 7-7.5 billion to the satisfaction of additional secretary to the Ministry of Interior,” he added.
Prime Minister Imran Khan’s special assistant on accountability, Shahzad Akbar, said that requests from the ‘Sharif Medical City’, as well as the government-formed medical board, were taken into consideration by the meeting.
“Nawaz Sharif has been given this one-time permission only for medical treatment,” Akbar said. “It is the federal government’s responsibility to ensure a guarantee from him and that that bond was only over surety, not any political gain,” added Akbar.
Akbar further noted that no one should forget the PML-N leader had been sentenced in a mega-corruption case and that investigation was still underway in some cases, including that of the Chaudhry Sugar Mills.
Meanwhile, a PML-N leader Muhammad Zubair told the media that his party would not provide any bond for Sharif.
“The condition of the government has no legality and we have already said that we will not pledge any kind of surety bond,” Zubair said adding that the government was actually playing politics. Earlier, another senior PML-N leader also rejected the government’s offer.
PTI