Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Tuesday maintained that the court and government had allowed former premier Nawaz Sharif to go abroad for medical treatment and now the ruling party was demanding his return.
The party said that they respected the court’s verdict regarding the party supremo but currently his health did not permit him to come back to Pakistan.
The PML-N leaders reiterated that Sharif would face the courts and return to the country once his medical treatment was completed.
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday issued non-bailable arrest warrants for Sharif in the Al Azizia reference.
The court issued the directions while hearing three miscellaneous applications filed by the PML-N chief seeking to forgo the requirement of his surrender, pursue the appeal through a legal representative and exemption from court appearance.
Addressing a news conference in the parliament lodges, PML-N leader Khawaja Asif noted that Sharif had always respected the courts.
He recalled that the three-time premier had returned to Pakistan after leaving his ailing wife in London despite being aware of his arrest.
“The courts had allowed him [Sharif] to go abroad for medical treatment. We respect the courts orders and will follow them,” he said.
“His [Sharif’s] health is not stable. His platelet count is falling. When his [Sharif’s] health is stable, he will return and face the courts and cases,” he added.
Asif stressed that PML-N had been standing like a rock to defend the party’s manifesto “give respect to the vote” and for the supremacy of law.
Speaking on the occasion, PML-N leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said that Sharif’s medical reports clearly spoke about his health condition.
He recalled that Sharif had earlier too come from London and had been imprisoned.
“Receiving medical treatment is his [Sharif’s] legal right. He will return after the medical treatment and will face the courts. His treatment was delayed because of Covid-19,” he said.
Nawaz league Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal stressed that Sharif’s politics was based on the supremacy of law and added that his party believed on the democratic values.
He reminded that former military dictator Pervez Musharraf was also sentenced but had been given relief by the high court.
He lamented that the government had not opposed Sharif’s medical report when it was presented in the court and did not give any arguments against it.
“It was not us [PML-N] who sent Nawaz Sharif abroad but the court and government,” he said.
Iqbal pointed out that Prime Minister Imran Khan had taken the decision about Sharif’s treatment abroad and added that the provincial health minister and other ministers at that time had verified that the PML-N chief was ill.
“Today, they [PTI] is saying that Sharif should return,” he said.
Iqbal asked the PTI not to “play politics” on Sharif’s health and tell the people what they had done for them.
Sharif had left for London in November 2019 after the Lahore High Court granted him permission to go abroad for medical treatment.
He was also given bail in the Al Azizia Mills corruption case in which he was serving a seven-year prison sentence in Kot Lakhpat Jail, Lahore, before he left for London.
Last week, an accountability court had declared him a proclaimed offender in the Toshakhana vehicles reference and initiated the process to confiscate his properties and directed the NAB to make his arrest through Interpol.
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