Bureau Report
LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday granted bail to critically ill former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in Chaudhry Sugar Mills on medical grounds, but the ex-PM has not been released yet as his bail application pertaining to Al-Azizia Steel Mills case is still pending in the Islamabad High Court, which is slated to take up the plea on Tuesday.
A two-member LHC bench, headed by Justice Baqar Najafi, granted Nawaz the bail in the CSM after an appeal was filed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif, seeking elder brother’s release, who is detained by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
According to the short order, the former premier will have to submit two surety bonds worth Rs10 million each for his release in the case. “We applied for bail on the grounds that his health conditions were deteriorating and that he needs better treatment,” his lawyer, Azam Nazir Tarar, told Reuters after the ruling.
It is yet to be seen whether Nawaz Sharif would be moved to another hospital or allowed to go abroad for treatment as his lawyer had requested.
During the hearing, a NAB prosecutor told the court that “every life, including that of Nawaz Sharif, is precious” and claimed the former premier’s condition was “treatable”.
However, Services Institute of Medical Sciences (SIMS) Principal Dr Mahmood Ayaz informed the court that the former premier’s condition was “extremely serious”, as he submitted a detailed medical report of the PML-N supreme leader. He told the court that a medical board, which also includes Nawaz’s personal physician, meets twice every day to discuss Nawaz’s condition. The former prime minister has been diagnosed with immune thrombocytopenia (ITP), a disease that causes the breakdown of blood cells.
However, the doctors have said that the disease is “treatable” in Pakistan. Dr Ayaz told the court that Nawaz’s platelet count was constantly reducing, adding that the hospital had conducted tests to see if Nawaz was suffering from dengue.
“We inject platelets every day but they destruct every day,” Dr Ayaz said and added: “Something or the other is destroying Nawaz Sharif’s platelets.”
