ISLAMABAD – The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Wednesday reserved its judgmenton Nawaz Sharif’s bail plea on medical grounds in Al-AziziaSteel Mills verdict after the two sides concluded their arguments.During today’s hearing, National AccountabilityBureau (NAB) raised objections before Islamabad High Court (IHC) onmaintainability of bail plea of former prime minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif.NAB prosecutor pleaded before the bench thatNawaz’s case did not fall in circumstances of hardships. Such bail petitioncould not be filed when main appeals of the convict person were underprocess,he said.A divisional bench comprising Justice AamerFarooq and Mohsin Akhter Kiyani heard the miscellaneous applications ofNawaz Sharif seeking suspension of his imprisonment sentence on medicalgrounds.NAB prosecutor Jahanzeb Bharwana contendedthat the standard for suspension of punishment and bail was the same forall.
The court had to see whether the basic rights of Nawaz Sharif were beingdamaged.Jahazaib Bharwana added that cause of actionarose at Lahore therefore case may be heard at Lahore. During the trialaccusednever submitted anything about his diseases, he said.He said the jail official had asked to shift the prisoner to hospitalthrough just WhatsApp.At this, Justice Kiyani remarked it was a modern technology and could beused to convey the message in emergency.Bharwana further said that all medical facilities advised by the doctorswere available in hospital where the accused was under treatment.Justice Aamer Farooq asked which hospitals inLahore, Rawalpindi and Islamabad have good treatment facilities for thediseases the former prime minister suffering from.State Counsel Muhammad Jahangir stated thathospitals in Pakistan including AFIC, PIMS, PIC, CMH and Jinnah Hospitalhave treatmentfacilities of diseases diagnosed in medical analysis of prisoner.Nawaz’s counsel Khawaja Haris said first his client was required to comeout from mental stress. According to his medical history, Nawaz Sharifwould be able to visit his doctors after being released from jail.He said former prime minister had suffered from cardiac problems four timesduring 2003 to 2008. His client suffered withthe problem of blood leakage during his treatment in 2011.Nawaz’s health issue was as serious as no medical board or doctor was readyto take the responsibility of his treatment,he said, adding that fresh medical report had suggested angiography of hisclient.Haris stated that angiography of Nawaz Sharif could be done after clearanceby the doctors treating his kidney relateddiseases.He pleaded that treatment of former prime minister was not possible in jailas his life was at risk due to severaldiseases. There was a need for regular monitoring of Nawaz’s healthconditionand time to time changes in medicine.He said that there was no contradiction in medical reports of his client.He said that the report of Punjab Institute ofCardiology (PIC) was not produced to the bench, adding that the actionshouldbe taken against the person who hided Nawaz’s report.NAB prosecutor Sardar Muzafar said that Punjabgovernment provided special treatment to accused in this case. Any doctordidn’t said accused life is under threat, he said and also gave referenceof Sharjeel Menon case and requested the court to declare petition as nonmaintainable.
