Sharif denied access to personal doctor in jail
islamabad — Pakistan’s jailed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif is suffering from high blood pressure but has been refused permission to see his personal doctor, his party said on Monday.
Sharif was convicted in absentia on corruption charges and arrested upon his return to Pakistan earlier his month, ahead of elections on Wednesday.
Members of his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party have said the powerful military is trying to influence the vote against his party.
The former premier returned to face a 10-year prison sentence in what is widely believed to be a bid to rally his embattled party ahead of a close contest with its main rival — the Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf, led by cricket star-turnedpolitician Imran Khan.
“Caretaker prime minister Nasir-ul-Mulk and chief minister of Punjab province Hasan Askari were approached with a request to provide access to Sharif’s personal physician but all requests went down the drain,” PML-N spokeswoman Marriyum Aurangzeb said.
“Nawaz Sharif, who is also a heart patient, has been quite unwell since Saturday after his blood pressure went up.”
Officials at the Adiala prison in Rawalpindi, where Sharif is being held, could not be reached for comment.
Marriyum said the former premier needed a special diet and air conditioning due to a heart condition, but was being denied both, adding his cell has “serious hygiene issues”.
The interim government has assembled a team of doctors who are set to offer Sharif a check-up.
In an audio message from prison, Sharif urged Pakistanis to vote for his party.
“On July 25, after offering morning prayers, come out of your homes with full zeal and... give your vote” to the PML-N, he said in the clip, released by his party. —