Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Tuesday stated that Prime Minister Imran Khan will be held responsible if anything happens to the party's jailed leader and former premier Nawaz Sharif, who is currently under treatment at a hospital in Lahore for critically low platelets count. Speaking at a news conference here along with party's Spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb, Secretary General PML-N Ahsan Iqbal alleged the government for committing deliberate negligence with regard to ailing health conditions of Nawaz Sharif.
"God forbid, if anything happens to Nawaz Sharif given his deteriorating health condition, Imran Ahmad Naizi [Prime Minister] will be held responsible and he will be the one to be tried in the country's court," Iqbal said, alleging the government ministers for mocking and ridiculing the sickness of the former premier the way they had been doing during the illness of Kalsum Nawaz, the late wife of Nawaz Sharif.
He demanded that Maryam Nawaz should be given access to the family doctor and she should also be given permission to see her father at the Services Hospital in Lahore. He further maintained that Dr Adnan, the family doctor of Sharif family, had been contacting the authorities concerned with regard to the critical health condition of the former prime minister.
"The government has not only committed a criminal negligence but also made a deliberate attempt to cause damage to his [Nawaz Sharif] health," he said and also criticized Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awan for 'ridiculing' and 'doing politics' on health condition of Nawaz Sharif.
"Politicizing health issues of political opponents has been a trademark move of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), which is very unfortunate practice in the country's politics," he added. He further stated that Dr Adnan had earlier written to the concerned officials about Sharif's deteriorated health condition on October 16 and when his condition further worsened, he again informed the officials on Monday at 7:00pm. However, the government responded at 12:00am.
Iqbal also expressed alarm over the health conditions of jailed party leaders Maryam Nawaz and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, a former prime minister. He said that they have been receiving information about the critical health conditions of the party's leaders from the jails and called upon the government to take appropriate measures with regard to providing best medical treatment to the jailed leaders.
To a question, the PML-N leader said that like other opposition political parties, his party will participate with full strength in the 'Azadi March' on October 31 and also observe October 27 as a black day to express solidarity with the Kashmiri people. He said if the government fails to accept the demands of the opposition parties, it should get prepared to face the 'tsunami' of the people.
Iqbal also challenged the claims related to improving economic indicators, saying that the PTI has proved to be '9/11' for the country's economy. He maintained that the growth rate of Afghanistan which is at 3 percent is even better than Pakistan's which is less than 3 percent. He further claimed that the foreign investment has shown a decline of 60 percent while the government has borrowed record loans in one year which, according to him, the PML-N government had borrowed in its entire tenure.
He further maintained that there was a record shortfall in tax collection last year, adding that the only sector which is performing well is the banking sector. It is because of doubling the interest rate, he added.
Marriyam Aurangzeb alleged that the delay in giving medical treatment to Nawaz Nawaz was made on the alleged instruction of Prime Minister Imran Khan. She also rejected the alleged stance of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) that the platelets of Nawaz Sharif got low due to the wrong prescription by Dr Adnan, the family doctor of Sharif family. She also condemned the arrest of Captain Safdar (retd) from Lahore, adding that he was arrested for doing nothing wrong.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2019
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