F.P. Report
LAHORE: Punjab Information and Culture Minister Fayyazul Hassan Chohan on Monday termed the decision of Islamabad High Court to reject of Nawaz Sharif’s bail plea as ‘exceptional’. “If the court had granted the bail then all other inmates would have also considered it their right to receive treatment at a place of their preference,” he said while talking to media outside Punjab Assembly.
Fayyaz reiterated that Nawaz will neither be given immunity nor a deal will be signed with him. “Nawaz has that cardiac ailment which usually occurs to a 60-year-old. Heart patients do not eat foods fried in oil,” he criticized. The government will have his treatment in the hospital of his choice, declared the minister.
The IHC dismissed a bail petition filed by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on medical grounds in Al-Azizia reference case.
An IHC bench comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani announced the verdict.
The nine-page judgment mentioned that “where a prisoner is receiving medical treatment in hospital or in jail, he would not be entitled to the concession of bail; the petitioner has been hospitalized time and again since January, 2019, whenever he made complaints about his indisposition.
In fact the reports of Board of Doctors and various Teams constituted, are indicative of the fact that petitioner is receiving best possible medical treatment available to any individual in Pakistan. The referred fact cannot be regarded as an ‘extraordinary situation’ and/or case of ‘extreme hardship’. Almost, every ailment has potential of being detrimental to one’s life but not, if the same is properly treated and taken care of, therefore, being indisposed per se cannot form basis to be released on bail.” Another point of the judgment read “Finally, we find that objection taken by learned counsel for the respondents regarding maintainability of instant petition, is of no substance. The medical condition of the petitioner deteriorated on or about 15.01.2019 and it is only there-after that instant writ petition was filed. The case law cited by learned counsel for National Accountability Bureau is not attracted in the facts and circumstances of instant case.”
The judgment ended with remarks “For the above reasons, we find the instant petition to be without merit and the same is accordingly dismissed.”
Following the dismissal of bail petition, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo was shifted to Kot Lakhpat Jail from Jinnah Hospital where he was being treated for cardiac issues. Sharif would be provided B-class facilities in the jail that include newspaper, TV, table, chair and bed.
He would be kept in the jail’s security ward and Kot Lakhpak Jail Superintendent Ijaz Asghar would supervise the PML-N supremo’s security.
