Home Latest News AGP Warns Shahbaz Sharif of Contempt if He Doesn’t Submit Nawaz’s Medical Reports

AGP Warns Shahbaz Sharif of Contempt if He Doesn’t Submit Nawaz’s Medical Reports

by Staff Report

File photo. Rizwan Tabassum—AFP

In letter, AGP Office grants opposition 10 days to provide reports that prove former prime minister is not fit to travel back to Pakistan

The Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) on Monday urged opposition leader Shahbaz Sharif to ensure his brother, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, returns to Pakistan and warned of contempt of court proceedings if he cannot provide medical reports verifying Nawaz is not fit to travel.

Directing Shahbaz to submit the reports within 10 days, the letter added: “In the event of your failure, [AGP] office shall be constrained to initiate proceedings for breach of undertaking and violation of the order of the Lahore High Court in terms of Article 204 of the Constitution, read with section 3 of the Contempt of Court Ordinance, 2003.”

The letter follows up on an earlier missive dispatched by the AGP office, which was addressed to the Punjab government and had sought the formation of an “independent” medical board to determine the current state of Nawaz’s health.

According to the letter, the special medical board met on Jan. 17 and examined the documents provided by Cardiothoracic Surgeon Dr. David Lawrence, concluding that they failed to provide any relevant information about the current clinical evaluation of Nawaz Sharif, including blood reports, imaging results and any interventional procedures.

It said that the board could not offer any “considered opinion” without this information and accused Shahbaz of failing to fulfill his obligation to provide medical reports from Nawaz Sharif’s doctor, as he had committed to the Lahore High Court to secure a special “one-time” permission for the former prime minister to travel abroad. “You are, therefore, prima facie in violation of your undertaking and order passed by the LHC on Nov. 16, 2019,” it added.

Stressing that the AGP considered it pertinent to contact Shahbaz for the medical reports before initiating contempt proceedings, the letter pointed to media reports that Nawaz was currently in good health. “After reaching London, Nawaz did not stay in the hospital for a single day and remained involved in his political activities,” it said.

On Nov. 16, 2019, the LHC had granted “one-time” permission to Nawaz Sharif to travel abroad for four weeks, directing him to return as soon as doctors certified that he had regained his health and was fit to travel back to Pakistan. The AGP letter stressed that both Sharif brothers had submitted undertakings agreeing to this.

Earlier this month, the federal cabinet had discussed the issue and directed the AGP office to initiate proceedings against Shahbaz Sharif for his alleged violation of the affidavit he submitted before the LHC.

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