Nawaz insists not to go for treatment

LAHORE: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has refused to change his decision of not going to hospital for treating his heart ailment. He continued to keep his decision despite the fact that his family members requested him to review his decision on Wednesday. Maryam Nawaz, Shamim Akhtar and Hamza Shahbaz visited him in jail on Wednesday. They all failed in persuading him to leave his earlier stance of refusing medical treatment and go to hospital for attending threats of angina.

Nawaz had announced few days back that he would not seek any further medical treatment. His announcement came after the high court rejected his plea for allowing him to go abroad for medical treatment last month. The government has announced that all medical tests of Nawaz Sharif conducted in jail are normal. But still, the Punjab government has offered to admit Nawaz to any hospital in the provincial metropolis for treatment.

Refusing the government offer, Nawaz alleged that the government is victimizing him for political reasons and has been refusing to give him actual medical treatment. He said the government has been taking him to different hospitals only to frustrate him and add insult to injury.

The issue of Nawaz Sharif’s persistence to refuse medical treatment flashed on the media on Wednesday, after being sidelined by the Indian war threats and borders tensions over the last fortnight, when his daughter Maryam Nawaz ran several tweets expressing serious concerns that his heart might suffer irreversible damage owing to absence of medical treatment. Maryam has been tweeting during the last couple of days that her father has been feeling angina pain which is worsening with the frequency of angina attacks that could lead to some life-threatening accident. She said her father is firm on not complaining about his medical condition to jail authorities and would prefer dying honorably instead of begging for medical treatment.

On Wednesday, Maryam tweeted: “It’s a medical fact that every episode of angina worsens the heart disease further and can irreversibly damage the heart. Who will I blame or who will be responsible if anything happens to him, God forbid? The callousness, I repeat, is shocking.”

Later, in the evening, she posted another tweet, saying: “On my way to the Kot Lakhpat Jail to see MNS. I hope he agrees to shift to hospital. My grandmother is also accompanying me. May be she can prevail because MNS has never said no to her. Thank you everyone for your unflinching love, support & prayers. Will keep you updated, Insha’Allah.”

However, the reports coming after the visit said Nawaz has refused even his mother. Nawaz was quoted as saying to his mother that she should pray for his health, adding that he had surrendered before the will of Allah Almighty and is ready to face whatever Allah wishes.

Earlier, the PML-N MPAs in the Punjab Assembly protested against the government for not allowing proper medical treatment to Nawaz Sharif despite his deteriorating health. The members staged a sit-in outside the assembly premises and raised slogans against the government.

PML-N President and former Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif also condemned the government for victimizing Nawaz Sharif despite his worsening health conditions. In a statement, he expressed concerns for the health and life of Nawaz Sharif, saying that ministers are allowed to go abroad despite having their names on the ECL but the man who made country a nuclear power and remained prime minister thrice is not being allowed vital medical treatment of his ailing heart. He expressed sorrow that the Punjab government is not ready to accept recommendations of its own-constituted medical boards, showing a moral deprivation and ill-intention. He warned that it is already too late for Nawaz Sharif to have been denied medical assistance and any further delay, negligence and criminal carelessness would rest on the shoulders of Prime Minister Imran Khan and his government.