The 62-year-old Hashmi moved from his hometown Multan to Karachi last Monday where doctors are busy trying to ensure his speedy recovery, Momina Hashmi, one of Hashmi’s six daughters, told The Express Tribune.
On July 20 this year, Hashmi suffered from a partial brain haemorrhage followed by a stroke, forcing his family members to shift him from Multan to Lahore General Hospital for better treatment.
On August 1, he was admitted to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) in Islamabad for treatment of haemorrhage after which his health began improving.
“We have noticed a great improvement in his health and brought him back to Multan but had to travel frequently to Karachi for his physiotherapy and speech therapy which was taking a toll on his health. So doctors advised us to shift him to AKUH until he completely recovers,” said Momina.
Doctors say that Hashmi is now out of danger after a recent CT scan in Lahore showed that the blood clot in his brain had dissolved and his health is improving.
“With his daily speech therapy sessions, Abbu is now able to talk as well,” said Momina. Previously, the brain haemorrhage had affected his ability to talk.
When inquired about Hashmi’s plan to quit politics, Momina laughed before saying, “That will never happen. We wish we could ask him to, but politics is in his blood now and we know he will make a comeback once he completely recovers.”
In fact, one of the first things Hashmi asked for after gaining consciousness was for a newspaper because he wanted to remain up-to-date with what was happening. “Initially he was unable to talk, but would read the papers and share his opinions with us by writing on a piece of paper.”
“These days he is disturbed by the lack of planning on part of the government in handling the flood crisis,” added Momina.
However, she added that the decision to move to Karachi was perhaps a wise one as he will not be reminded about work each time his colleagues from the PML-N visit him. Hashmi’s family members say he needs some peace of mind especially during his therapies that last between seven to eight hours every day
The PML-N loyalist is the only politician who won three seats in the 2008 general elections. Prior to that, he had been imprisoned for four years during former President General (retd) Pervez Musharraf’s regime on charges of inciting mutiny in the army after he called for an investigation into the alleged corruption in the armed forces.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 29th, 2010.
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