Afghan president sends wishes to PM Nawaz for open heart surgery

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Sunday extended his best wishes to PM Nawaz Sharif for his open-heart surgery in London.

"I would like to send my best wishes to PM Nawaz Sharif and his family. Hope the surgery goes alright. We pray for his speedy recuperation," the Afghan president tweeted.

I would like to send my best wishes to PM Nawaz Sharif and his family. Hope the surgery goes alright. We pray for his speedy recuperation.

— Ashraf Ghani (@ashrafghani) May 29, 2016

The premier will undergo open heart surgery in London on Tuesday and is likely to remain hospitalised for a whole week after the procedure, his family announced on Friday.

“PM Nawaz Sharif [is] undergoing open heart surgery on Tuesday,” tweeted Maryam Nawaz on her personal handle of the micro-blogging website. Her father travelled to the British capital on May 22 for a medical checkup.

Earlier, the Indian premier also took to Twitter on Saturday to extend good wishes to his Pakistani counterpart, Nawaz Sharif, for his open-heart surgery.

“My best wishes to PM Nawaz Sharif Sahab for his open heart surgery on Tuesday. And for his speedy recovery & good health,” Modi said on Twitter.



Ashraf Ghani's statement comes as ties between Islamabad and Kabul fast deteriorate. Pakistan has indicated it could abandon work on development projects in Afghanistan in the wake of harassment of its workers there.

A Pakistani official in Kabul said on Saturday that authorities in the Logar province earlier this week detained an engineer, who is working on a Pakistan-funded hospital, for nearly five hours.

On May 24, a police squad visited the under-construction 100-bed Naeb Aminullah Khan Logari Hospital in Logar province to search and clear the structure ahead of an impending visit of the governor.

As many as 45 Pakistani workers, including engineers, are involved in the construction of the $14 million hospital. Besides Pakistanis, around 90 Afghan nationals also work on the site.

The Pakistani official said police took issue with an electrical machine claiming that it could be used for terrorism.



“Pakistani contractors explained to the police officer that the machine is used only for electrical purposes but the police officer was adamant on his view and took the site engineer to the police station,” the Pakistani official said. He said the engineer, a contractor, later contacted the local administration in Logar and the governor. It was on their intervention that the engineer was released, but not before he was detained for five hours.

“Harassment of Pakistani nationals, who are working on various projects, is now common and has demoralised them,” the Pakistani official lamented. He added that the Afghan government is lax on ensuring security for workers.

The official further pointed out that Pakistani workers and engineers have been killed and kidnapped in the past. “If the situation continues, we will be forced to abandon projects,” he warned. He also complained that Pakistani workers also face problems in securing Afghan visas and extensions in visas.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan’s top diplomat in Islamabad said that it was just one incident. “We should not generalise [based on] one isolated incident of a worker detained and then released within a few hours to all Pakistani workers in Afghanistan,” Afghan Ambassador Omar Zakhilwal told The Express Tribune.