Pakistani opposition raises alarm over health of detained ex-PM

Pakistan’s main opposition party said on Thursday the health of its leader, jailed former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, is deteriorating and the government is victimizing 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, charges he has described as 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 hospital and in his treatment.

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

The government of Prime Minister Imran Khan denies that the legal action against Sharif and other members of his family including elder daughter Maryam Nawaz, who is also in detention for suspected graft, is politically motivated.

The provincial government has said Sharif could be sent abroad for treatment, as his party has suggested, if a court allowed it, Reuters reported.