The Punjab government was asked to place Dr Fayyaz Shawl, MD USA report on former prime minister Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif’s health before the Special Medical Board to examine and evaluate it given all the known and reported facts to form an opinion.

Secretary AGP Office Khalid Khan Niazi “with the approval of Attorney General for Pakistan” on Thursday wrote a letter to the Punjab Home Secretary, Zafar Nasrullah Khan. The letter said; “Once the expert medical opinion is available, this office shall proceed as per the order of the court.”

The AGP office secretary wrote; “In view of the decision of the federal cabinet dated 11-01-2022 whereby this office was directed to initiate proceedings for apparent violation of the undertakings given in the petition before the Lahore High Court and so also the order dated 16-11-2019 of the Lahore High Court, the government of the Punjab is requested to place the document dated 28-01-2022 issued under the signature of Dr Fayaz Shawl, MD before the Special Medical Board with the request to examine this document and evaluate given all the known and reported facts and public activities of Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif to form opinion, if any, on this subject.”

The AGP office on January 11, 2022 had asked the Punjab provincial government to form a medical board for examining former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s reports, filed before the Lahore High Court (LHC).

The Special Medical Board observed; “The enclosed photocopied documents (29 pages) do not provide any information about his current clinical evaluation, blood reports, imaging results and any interventional procedures done so far. Therefore, the Special Medical Board is not in a position to render any structured advice or a considered opinion, about his current physical condition and ability to travel, to the competent authority in the light of available information.”

The Attorney General for Pakistan, Barrister Khalid Jawed Khan, on January 24, 2022 in a letter asked Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif to provide medical reports of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif within 10 days to avoid legal proceedings over breach of his undertaking.

Shehbaz Sharif in his letter replied that the AGP, Khalid Jawed, seeking medical reports of ex-PM Nawaz Sharif was tantamount to “contempt of court”. It appears that the letter has been issued for “the purpose of media trial” to support the “dying political rhetoric” of the federal cabinet.

A division bench of the LHC on 16 November 2019 had granted one-time permission to travel abroad as an interim arrangement for four weeks and he was to return when certified by doctors that he has regained his health and is fit to return back to Pakistan .

This report was first published in Business Recorder on February 4, 2022.