Passport with court, can’t accompany Sharif abroad: Maryam

Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's daughter Maryam Nawaz

Lahore,  PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz on Friday said that she cannot accompany her ailing father, former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for his treatment abroad as her passport was with the Lahore High Court.

Following an appearance before an accountability court here regarding the Chaudhry Sugar Mills (CSM) corruption case, Maryam said that her uncle, PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif, had been managing the issue of taking her father abroad, reports Dawn news.

“I obviously can’t travel immediately because the court has my passport,” she said, referring to the Lahore High Court’s directive for her to surrender her passport in order to secure her release on bail in the case.

A Sharif family source on Thursday told Dawn news that Nawaz Sharif has agreed to go to London, adding that he might as early as this week if his name was removed from the Exit Control List.

Speaking to the media on Friday, Maryam said: “It is very difficult (for me) that Mian sahib goes abroad for treatment and I am unable to go. It will become very difficult for me because I worry a lot.”

Earlier this week, the former premier was shifted to an intensive care unit (ICU) set up at his Jati Umra residence from the Services Institute of Medical Sciences (SIMS), where he was admitted on October 22 after his personal physician raised an alarm about his deteriorating health.

On October 29, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had suspended the sentence of the former premier on medical grounds for eight weeks in the Al Azizia corruption case.

Responding to a question about her father’s health, Maryam said that he was doing better. She said that all treatment available in Pakistan, including steroids, platelet enhancing medicines and drips, had been used but they were not working.

“On a daily basis, his platelet count is dropping,” she said, adding that despite exhausting all available treatment options in Pakistan, they have still not been able to diagnose the cause of the fall in the platelet levels.

“Every possible effort to save (Nawaz Sharif’s) life should be taken. If he has to go abroad, then he should certainly go.”

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