ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday termed the letter written to him by the office of the Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) — seeking fresh medical reports of his elder brother Nawaz Sharif — as being “politically-motivated” and in violation of the orders of the Lahore High Court (LHC).

“I have reasons to believe that the issuance of the letter is prompted by political motivation and considerations extraneous to law, constitution of medical board, proceedings by it and the demand raised on its basis through the letter runs counter to the mandate and is completely out of scope of the order (of the LHC) dated Nov 16, 2019,” the opposition leader in the National Assembly wrote in his reply to the AGP office, sent through his personal secretary Murad Ali Khan.

Stating that he reserved the right to “seek appropriate remedy as to want of authority and sanction of law regarding issuance of the letter and vilification campaign on the basis thereof”, Mr Sharif declared that the letter written to him by the AGP through his secretary on Jan 24 amounted to contempt of court.

In its letter, the AGP office had warned Mr Sharif of contempt proceedings if he failed to furnish fresh reports regarding medical condition of his elder brother.

Rashid deplores opposition’s ‘double standard’ on pandemic, says people being asked to protest while Nawaz stays in London

The AGP’s letter also cited the undertaking given by Mr Sharif to ensure the return of his brother within four weeks, or when doctors certified that he had regained his health and was fit to return to Pakistan.

Calling the letter “unwarranted, unjustified and without lawful authority”, Mr Sharif wrote that it appeared the letter had been issued for the purposes of a media trial, to support the political rhetoric of the federal cabinet.

“May I respectfully state that the issuance of the letter in a matter sub judice before the high court [is tantamount] to contempt. Indeed, the issuance of the letter is a contrived attempt to cause prejudice and influence pending proceedings,” said the reply, which was subsequently released to the media by the PML-N.

Mr Sharif’s response to the AGP’s letter came a day after his elder brother Nawaz’s legal team filed a fresh medical report with the judicial branch of the LHC, in compliance with its order of Nov 2019, which had allowed the former prime minister to go abroad, initially for four weeks, on medical grounds.

The fresh medical report had reiterated the advice against air travel for the PML-N supreme leader, saying he might develop serious complications upon return to solitary confinement in Pakistan.

“Please note that the requisite reports are being submitted in the office of registrar LHC periodically and I have never breached or violated the undertaking in any manner whatsoever,” the younger Sharif sibling said in his response to the AGP.

Separately, addressing a press conference in Islamabad earlier in the day, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed also came down hard on the PML-N supreme leader.

“Nawaz Sharif left the country on the basis of a fake medical report and now he wants to stay in the UK using another fake medical report,” the interior minister alleged, sarcastically saying that it was hard to fine such leaders in any part of the world.

In an apparent reference to the March 23 long march call, given by the opposition alliance Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), the minister said that on one hand, Mr Sharif could not come to Pakistan due to Covid-19, but on the other hand, the opposition was asking the people to participate in a long march to Islamabad, during the pandemic.

“You cannot hoodwink the people like this”, he remarked.

On Tuesday, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry had asked the judiciary to take notice of the “fake medical report” submitted to the LHC by Mr Sharif.

Published in Dawn, February 3rd, 2022