PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday maintained that the letter sent to him by the attorney general for Pakistan (AGP) on January 24 seeking fresh medical reports of his brother and party supremo Nawaz Sharif was “prompted by political motivation” and “tantamount to contempt” as the Lahore High Court was already looking into the matter.
The younger Sharif, who is also Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, further claimed that the letter had been issued for the “purposes of a media trial” to support the “dying rhetoric” of the federal cabinet.
“Indeed, [the] issuance of the letter is a contrived attempt to cause prejudice and influence pending proceedings,” it read.
Shehbaz also wrote that he was at a loss to understand why the officer acting under directions of the AGP could not comprehend and understand the concluding part of the undertaking which had been reproduced by him in para 2 of his letter.
Read: Medical report again bars Nawaz from travelling home
A day earlier, Nawaz‘s lawyer had submitted a fresh medical report of his client to the LHC that barred him from travelling to Pakistan without undergoing a “definitive medical treatment” in London.
On January 24, the AGP had issued a stern caution to Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz that contempt proceedings would be filed against him in case he failed to provide medical reports of his elder brother within 10 days.
The AGP office, in a letter, had said as per the undertaking given by Shehbaz to the LHC, he was bound to provide regular “duly notarised” medical reports of his brother to the court.
The letter had pointed out that it was evident from the observations of the special medical board formed by the Punjab government to examine PML-N supreme leader’s medical reports that Shehbaz had not fulfilled his obligation as per his solemn undertaking and order of the court.
“You are, therefore, prima facie in violation of your Undertaking and Order passed by the Lahore High Court dated 16-11-2019,” the letter had read.
The AGP had warned that the office will be “constrained to initiate proceedings for breach of undertaking and violation of the order of the court in terms of Article 204” read with Section 3 of the Contempt of Court Ordinance, 2003.
The attorney-general had said the reports did not provide “any information about Nawaz’s current clinical evaluation, blood reports, imaging results and any interventional procedures so far”. Therefore, he had added, the medical board could not give its advice in light of the incomplete information as provided by the PML-N president.
In November 2019, Nawaz, who is convicted in a corruption case, left the country after he signed a court-approved undertaking, saying that he would return to the country within four weeks.
Shehbaz too had signed an undertaking that stated he would "ensure the return" of his brother "within four weeks or on certification by doctors that he has regained his health and is fit to return back to Pakistan".
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