Pakistan PM issues orders to keep Maryam Nawaz with father in hospital

Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has issued directives to keep Maryam Nawaz with her father and former premier Nawaz Sharif at a leading hospital here after the federal government faced criticism for shifting her back to jail, according to a media report.

Maryam was admitted to the Services Hospital in Lahore on Wednesday where she was rushed from the high-security Kot Lakhpat jail to meet Sharif on account of his deteriorating health on the directives of Khan and felt sick.

The 45-year-old leader was admitted to VVIP ll, while her father is admitted in VVIP-l. She underwent some tests after which she was shifted back to the jail.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz's vice president was sent to jail on a 14-day judicial remand last month by an accountability court in a money laundering case.

Her remand was further extended by two more days on Wednesday. Punjab governor Mohammad Sarwar on Thursday said that Khan had sought a briefing on Maryam and Sharif's health.

He issued directives to the government to fulfill legal requirements to shift Maryam to the hospital with Sharif, Geo TV reported.

Sources claimed that Khan also spoke to Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar and directed him to make arrangements for Maryam's stay with her father at the hospital, the report said.

Earlier, PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb said that Maryam was experiencing high blood pressure and her heart rate was not normal at the time when she was returned to jail.

Aurangzeb said that by taking Maryam to jail in this way was another attempt to bring mental agony to former prime minister Sharif.

The health condition of Sharif, 69, who was admitted to the hospital on Monday from the Kot Lakhpat jail, deteriorated with critically low platelet count.

Sharif's deteriorating health raised alarms bells on Wednesday as his blood platelet count fell sharply to a life-threatening level of 7,000.

The Dawn newspaper reported on Friday that a six-member medical board, headed by Services Hospital Principal Ayaz Mahmood has diagnosed Sharif with having an immune disorder.

“It is acute immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), a bleeding disorder, in which the immune system destroys platelets,” a board member was quoted as saying by the newspaper. He said the treatment was given to Sharif in the light of his diagnosis.

“We are hopeful that his condition will improve in a few days,” he added. He is serving a seven-year prison term in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills case since December 24, 2018, in the wake of the Supreme Court's July 28, 2017 verdict in the high-profile Panama Papers case.