Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry has lambasted his party’s own Punjab provincial government for its purportedly “questionable” medical tests of Nawaz Sharif and called for an inquiry into them.
The federal minister in a series of tweets questioned why the former prime minister’s medical reports were not being sent from the UK.
“One of the reasons why Nawaz Sharif’s medical reports are not being sent from UK could be that the tests being conducted there are different from the ones that were conducted in Pakistan, and the UK doctors are hesitant in declaring Nawaz as seriously ill,” Chaudhry said.
He added that this implies that the medical tests conducted by the Punjab government were suspicious.
“In these circumstances, the Punjab government should set up an inquiry which should examine the health department, laboratory and the doctors’ connivance with the Sharif family, and bring the facts in front of the public,” the minister said.
Responding to Chaudhry’s allegation, Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) leader Talal Chaudhry, who was a minister in Sharif’s government during 2013-18, said the minister’s remarks were not against the former prime minister, but against the Punjab government.
“Fawad Chaudhry has declared the Punjab government, [the Punjab health minister] Yasmin Rashid, and the doctors of Services Hospital as ‘fake’,” Talal Chaudhry said, adding that the minister was trying to square things with the Punjab government by bringing Sharif into the discussion.
“Nawaz Sharif’s reports have been submitted as per the court’s orders,” he said. “Fawad Chaudhry will not become the chief minister by giving such statements.”
Minister Chaudhry had earlier criticised Sharif when photos of the former premier dining out with friends and family in London surfaced on social media.
In the photos, Sharif was spotted at a London restaurant with PML-N leaders, including former finance minister Ishaq Dar, former Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif, and Nawaz’s son Hussain.
“Scenes of a meeting in the intensive care unit of a London hospital, the treatment for binge-eating is underway with sheer concentration, all patients are feeling better,” the minister sarcastically wrote in his Twitter post.
Sharif has been in London since November last year after the Lahore High Court gave permission to the former prime minister to travel to UK for treatment.