Fears for ex-Pak PM as health deteriorates

Pakistan’s main opposition party said yesterday the health of its leader, jailed former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, is deteriorating and the government is victimising him by delaying treatment as part of a campaign against him and his family.

Sharif, 69, a three-time prime minister, is serving a seven-year jail sentence after a conviction for corruption last year. He denied the charges that he said were politically motivated.

He was taken to hospital in the city of Lahore on Monday and his party, the Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz, PML-N, has raised concern about what it says is his alarmingly low platelet count.

“He has undergone several scans and tests and doctors are still trying to find the cause,” the party’s deputy secretary general, Atta Tarar, told Reuters.

The government has dismissed party complaints about Sharif’s treatment saying he is getting the attention he needs. It said Sharif had a low platelet count that might have been caused by medication he is taking.

But the party’s secretary for information, Maryam Aurangzeb, condemned what she called a “deliberate delay” in Sharif’s move to hosptital and in his treatment.

“The government is crossing all limits of political victimisation against PML-N and the Sharif family,” Aurangzeb said.