The Accountability Court hearing corruption cases against Sharif family Monday granted three-day exemption to former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz from personal appearance before the court. The former prime minister and his daughter are currently in London where Sharif's wife and Maryam's mother, Kulsoom Nawaz, is undergoing cancer treatment. Sharif and his daughter filed an application along with Kulsoom's medical report through their counsel Khawaja Haris before Accountability Court Judge Muhammad Bashir, seeking seven-day exemption.
However, the court granted three-day exemption to both Sharif and Maryam.
Haris informed the court that the applicants traveled to London on June 14 to visit ailing Kulsoom. Upon arrival in London, they were informed that Kulsoom had suffered a cardiac arrest and she had been put on a life supporting ventilator and she was in very critical situation, he said, adding that the applicant moved an application on June 19 for exemption from personal attendance and the court granted exemption to the applicant until June 26.
He said that on June 21, the doctors treating the applicant's wife held team discussion over the health conditions of Kulsoom and issued their report on June 22 in which they had diagnosed the patient with cardiorespiratory collapse with confirm pulmonary thromboembolic disease (bilateral, segmental, moderate sized, multiple); cardiogenic shock with multiple organs failure including respiratory and renal failure, and malnutrition and refeeding syndrome.
He said that in such circumstances the applicant was forced to extend his stay in London with hope that his wife will sufficiently recover in the next few days.
According to the medical report, dated June 22, attached with the application, "We further discussed her steady improvement over the last three days, in particular having successfully discontinued the inhaled nitric oxide and the renal replacement therapy. She remained on low dose enoximone and noradrenaline and these are being weaned slowly."
While objecting to the application, Deputy Prosecutor General National Accountability Bureau Sardar Muzaffar Abbasi said that medial report produced by the defense does not have any signature; therefore, it could not be relied upon. He also said that the report did not mention anywhere that the life of the patient is under threat.
He further said that the defense has submitted this application without any ground; therefore, it should be rejected.