Nawaz moves IHC for bail on medical grounds

 ISLAMABAD  : Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday moved the Islamabad High Court (IHC), seeking bail on medical grounds in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption reference.

Opinions of specialist doctors from Switzerland, US and UK have been included in his petition filed at the high court by the former premier’s counsel Khawaja Haris.

According to the medical board, “Nawaz is suffering from life-threatening diseases.”

Tension and stress could prove to be threatening to Nawaz’s life, it was stated in the reports.

Even Nawaz’s blood and sugar levels had not normalised, the petition added.

The petition stated that all members of the special medical board, along with doctors associated with Doctors Hospital Lahore, Sheikh Zayed Hospital, Lahore and National Hospital, Lahore as well as medical specialists from UK, USA and Switzerland were unanimous that Nawaz’s treatment was not possible in jail.

The petition stated that the former prime minister's political rivals had been propagating against him and terming his bail plea as an attempt to avail an 'NRO' style deal, which the petition said was a contempt of court.

Nawaz stated that it wouldn't affect the prosecution case if his sentence was suspended till the final judgement on appeal against trial court's verdict in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills case.



He prayed the court to grant him bail on medical grounds.

The petitioner had nominated National Accountability Bureau (NAB), accountability court and Kot Lakhpat Jail superintendent as respondents in his plea.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court dismissed Nawaz’s review petition seeking permanent bail on medical grounds and the permission to go abroad for treatment.

The former premier, who has been serving a seven-year prison term at Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail since December 24, 2018, was granted a six-week bail on March 26 to get medical treatment. However, Nawaz filed a civil review petition against the order on April 27.

The petition requested the court to allow Nawaz to get medical treatment abroad, claiming that the former PM was suffering from acute anxiety and depression that could lead to ‘sudden death’.

It said the medical professionals seeing the former premier in Pakistan recommended that he should be treated by his regular practitioners in the United Kingdom. It also said that there was a difference between the apex court’s March 26 oral order and the written order.

However, a three-judge special bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Asif Saeed Khosa and comprising Justice Sajjad Ali Shah and Justice Yahya Afridi, dismissed the petition after a after 86-minute-long hearing.