Sharif set for treatment in London
LAHORE: Pakistan’s ailing former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who was convicted of corruption, left the country yesterday to travel to London for medical treatment.
The 69-year-old Sharif, who served three times as prime minister but fell from grace after the Supreme Court ousted him from office over corruption allegations two years ago, has had a history of health problems, including heart disease.
He departed on a specially equipped medical plane from the Pakistani city of Lahore, after a court granted him permission to leave for four weeks abroad for medical treatment.
His conviction was earlier suspended for eight weeks on medical grounds.
Nawaz Sharif has always maintained his innocence and denied the corruption charges that prompted the country’s top court to remove him from office in July 2017. He claims he has been politically victimised.
Sharif was earlier this year sentenced to seven years in prison. After his health deteriorated last month, he was rushed from his prison cell to a hospital in Lahore where he later suffered a minor heart attack.
Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday said Sharif ’s brother had made a personal appeal and that he could not stand in the way of medical treatment for his ailing predecessor.
Sharif’s party has blamed Mr Khan’s government for imposing a heavy bail bond on the former premier, a sum that was later overturned by the authorities, allowing Sharif to leave.