Avoid politics on Nawaz’s health, Firdous tells opposition

Says application for PML-N supremo’s release on health grounds will be decided upon by court

ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan on Thursday asked the opposition leaders to refrain from making political mileage out of the health condition of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

Speaking at a news conference, the special assistant said Maryam Nawaz had requested for a meeting with Nawaz which was duly fulfilled.

“Maryam has been again sent to jail as per the jail manual as doctors declared that her reports of blood pressure, ECG and vital organs are normal,” she said. “The application for release of Nawaz on health grounds will be decided upon by the court. The government has implemented the court decisions in the past and will continue to do so.”

Dr Firdous said the first gesture of Prime Minister Imran Khan was that Nawaz should be provided the best healthcare from the hospital of his choice and his family should be taken on board about the medical treatment.

She expressed her best wishes for the early recovery of Nawaz.

“The government will act in accordance with the law and implement the court decisions. The government will facilitate the Sharif family and the court has to decide whether treatment of Nawaz is possible or not in Pakistan,” she added.

To a question, she repeated her stance that Loprin was used to make the blood thin and it affected the platelet count as it suppressed function of the bone marrow, saying the platelet count of Nawaz was around 20,000.

She said Prime Minister Imran had a strong connection with poor, needy and deserving people and his measures and policies were meant to provide them relief. “As the Pakistan Baitul Mal is an important institution to protect the poor through measures of social sector, the government has merged it with Ehsaas programme to broaden the scope of public-friendly initiatives,” said Firdous, adding that challenge for Pakistan was to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor, which was increasing.

“Five per cent of elite have monopoly in all aspects of life, policies are formulated for it and it has captured the power and financial resources, while the 95 per cent of the poor people are dispossessed and not benefitting from the system,” said the special assistant, adding that the living conditions of the poor were tragic and the government inherited the present state of affairs.

She said the PM was striving hard to get rid of the rotten system, eliminate corruption, corrupt practices and red-tapism and remove hurdles to provide relief to the people.

(With additional input from APP)