LAHORE: PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz has been granted permission to visit her ailing father in jail after she threatened that she will “stand outside Kot Lakhpat Jail” on Saturday (today) if she and her father’s physician are not allowed to see him.

On Friday night, Ms Nawaz tweeted: “Permission to meet MNS also granted. Thank you again.”

This came after a series of tweets by Maryam earlier in the day for not being allowed to visit her father along with Nawaz Sharif’s personal physician.

“If his (Nawaz) renal functions are not checked for any further deterioration & if his doctor & I are not allowed access to him, I will go and stand outside the jail tomorrow (Saturday) till the access is granted,” Ms Nawaz said in the first of a series of tweets.

She then tweeted: “MNS had pain in the flanks. His kidney disease is at stage 3 & the doctor suspects the pain to be of renal origin. His Urea & Creatinine levels must be checked. His doctor who I sent to examine MNS was made to wait 2 hours outside jail, was not allowed in & sent back.”

Ms Nawaz said a written request regarding her and Sharif’s personal physician, Dr Adnan Khan, to visit him in jail was sent to the Punjab home department on March 21 but to no avail. “I am also sending a request in writing again (to the home department) for MNS’s doctor to be granted access to him as soon as possible,” she further tweeted. “I am told that MNS’s blood samples to check his renal function (urea & creatinine) have been taken. Thank you very much. I hope the laboratory results, as soon as they come, will also be shared with me.”

Regarding a protest of the PML-N workers scheduled for Saturday against the PTI government’s “callous attitude” towards Mr Sharif’s health, she tweeted: “MNS has asked to call off the protest/gathering on March 23 (Saturday) & wants all of us to celebrate Pakistan Day wherever we are. My request is only to grant access to his doctor & myself, so his renal tests can be done as soon as possible.”

Meanwhile, PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif tweeted that it was an extremely heartless and inhumane attitude of the government towards the health of a three-time prime minister, Nawaz Sharif. “No compromise on his health. The authorities concerned must take note of it. They will face the consequences if God forbid anything happens to him,” he had tweeted.

Dr Adnan Khan tweeted in response to one of Ms Nawaz’s tweets: “Nawaz Sharif has dull pain in flanks. He has underlying chronic kidney disease (Stage-III) and nephrolithiasis besides significant heart disease. Access was denied. Jail authorities are requested to get complete renal profile and ultrasound KUB done to assess renal status.”

Nawaz Sharif is undergoing seven-year imprisonment in the Al-Azizia Mills corruption case. The government claims that Nawaz is not ready to be treated in any health facility in the country as he wants to go to London for treatment. The PML-N has accused the PTI government of doing politics on Sharif’s health.

Published in Dawn, March 23rd, 2019