ISLAMABAD: The government has written a letter to the UK authorities for repatriation of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif who it alleged violated the eight-week bail by staying in London for medical treatment for the past three-and-a-half months.

The federal cabinet was informed about the development during a meeting presided over by Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has written a letter to UK authorities so that Mr Prisoner [Nawaz Sharif] returns to the country,” Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan said at a post-cabinet meeting press conference.

She said Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif should not only return to the country but also bring his brother Nawaz Sharif with him. “We wrote to the UK authorities to fulfil the legal requirement as Nawaz Sharif had submitted an affidavit to the court that he would return to the country during his eight-week bail period but he is still in London even after the passage of 105 days,” she added.

Shahbaz claims government has no authority under law to do so

Since there is no pact between Pakistan and the United Kingdom on repatriation of wanted people, it is believed that if the UK authorities initiate a legal action against Mr Sharif and he moves courts there, the legal fight may continue for a long time.

Dr Awan said a medical board formed by the Punjab government on the directives of the Islamabad High Court, which had given a green signal to allow Mr Sharif to leave the country for medical treatment, had also declared that he was quite well and instead of getting treatment in any hospital he was seen in restaurants in London.

“The Punjab government has written a number of letters to Nawaz Sharif, seeking his medical reports, but instead of reports he sent a certificate which is not acceptable by the board to ascertain his present health condition,” she said, adding: “Platelets of Nawaz Sharif have improved but he and his brother have jammed ‘clutch plates’ of their party — Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz — and its workers.”

Shahbaz’s reaction

Reacting to the news, PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif said in a statement that under the law, the government did not have the authority to write such a letter. “The government’s haste illustrates its criminal intent,” he added.

The opposition leader said the IHC had granted bail to Nawaz Sharif for eight weeks and asked him to approach the Punjab government for an extension in his stay abroad, he said. “Now we reserve the right to approach the IHC over actions taken by the government,” he added.

“Attempting to stop Nawaz’s treatment is equivalent to murdering him and the government is playing with my brother’s health to avert public backlash,” the PML-N president said, adding that Imran Khan was acting on personal enmity and political vengeance. “Nawaz went abroad for medical treatment after fulfilling all legal requirements,” he added.

Nawaz Sharif had left for London on Nov 19 last year, 20 days after he was released on an eight-week bail. On Dec 23, the PML-N supremo had sought an extension in his stay abroad on the expiry of the four-week period granted by the Lahore High Court. Following his request, the Punjab government had constituted a four-member committee to look into the matter and sought fresh medical reports to take a decision. On Feb 25, the federal cabinet had declared Nawaz Sharif an absconder for not returning back to the country within the eight-week bail period and after receiving several letters from the Punjab government.

Coronavirus

During the cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Khan rejected a proposal by the health ministry to declare an emergency in the country to deal with the deadly coronavirus and grilled Health Minister Zafar Mirza for “interfering in provincial government affairs” and staying at Pakistan-Iran border at Taftan for three days.

With this, the health ministry’s proposal to import Rs760 million worth of equipment to combat coronavirus by relaxing the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules was also rejected.

An insider said the prime minister was of the view that since health was a provincial subject, Dr Mirza had no need to “leave Islamabad” and that the provinces should also share monetary burden to fight the fatal disease.

Mr Mirza informed the meeting that his ministry wanted to import Rs760m worth of personal protective equipment (PPE) after relaxing the PPRA rules because import of such items always remained difficult through normal procedures.

A source close to the health minister said that “Dr Mirza was of the view that everyone has his own opinion but he believed that his three-day stay at Taftan border had worked”.

Energy crisis

The cabinet was given a detailed briefing on the energy crisis with special reference to circular debt. A cabinet member told Dawn that the prime minister expressed dissatisfaction over inherited backlog of circular debt and termed it a major cause of crisis in the energy sector. “The prime minister said whatever reform is made by the government in the energy sector, it is eaten by circular debt,” he added.

The prime minister noticed that the figures of water and power divisions and the National Electronic Power Regulatory Authority did not match and tasked the cabinet committee on energy with reconciling their figures. He reiterated that there was a need for “out of the box” solution in the energy sector to improve its performance and provide relief to the masses.

Published in Dawn, March 4th, 2020