LAHORE: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has accused the government of playing politics over the health of Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly Hamza Shehbaz, who has contracted Covid-19 during his incarceration at Kot Lakhpat Jail.
PML-N Deputy Secretary General Attaullah Tarar said he had written a letter to Punjab Additional Chief Secretary Shaukat Ali requesting him to shift Hamza to Ittefaq Hospital, Lahore, as he is unwell and experiencing Covid-19 symptoms for the past week. However, the letter is not being "received" by the ACS. We are not even being told the reason why our request is not being received. If we are not listened, we will knock the court's doors, Tarar said on twitter.
Hamza is in the National Accountability Bureau's (NAB) custody since June last year. The bureau is investigating two different cases against Hamza regarding money laundering and holding assets beyond means.
Requesting the people to pray for his son's health on twitter, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly and PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif said that Hamza, after facing cases during the Pervez Musharraf regime, is now "bravely fighting political victimisation by the NAB-Niazi nexus".
PML-N Vice-President Maryam Nawaz accused the government of not giving "the required medical attention" to Hamza. "This oppressive regime has been toying with the health of political opponents by keeping them in inhuman conditions. My brother Hamza Shehbaz Sharif is the latest victim of this brutality who has tested positive for Covid-19 but not being given the required medical attention. Hamza has unjustly and illegally been incarcerated for more than a year now," she twitted.
PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb demanded that Hamza be immediately shifted from Kot Lakhpat jail to a hospital. She said Hamza has had high fever for the last three days and his condition could worsen.
In March, Hamza had sought bail from the Lahore High Court after the government imposed lockdown and issued social distancing policy to contain Covid-19 spread. \"The confined space of a prison makes it virtually impossible to implement the policy of social distancing. The prisoners are vulnerable and exposed to suffer irreparably in case of an outbreak. God forbid, a prison outbreak is likely to present potentially deadly risk to its inmates," states Hamza's petition. It further said that in the ten months since the National Accountability Bureau had arrested Hamza, no reference was filed against him by the anti-graft watchdog.
Reacting to Shehbaz Sharif's comments, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Accountability and Interior Mirza Shahzad Akbar said that Hamza was not in jail because of a political crime but for corruption.
"Hamza's appeal has been rejected by the high court. Do you [Shehbaz] want that he be sent to London like your brother?" asked Akbar, referring to PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif who is currently in the UK.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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