Navaz Sharif, former Pakistani prime minister, was moved to Lahore's Services Hospital after his health deteriorated in jail earlier this week, with his physician Adnan Khan raising the alarm over his poor condition.
The Imran Khan-led government, however, did not allow Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz to meet her father. A request was also sent by Sharif’s the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) to the Punjab Government’s Home Department asking for special permission to be granted. But it was rejected.
Following this, Maryam was admitted to the same hospital as her father.
As the news of Sharif, who enjoys a big following across Pakistan, being hospitalised spread on Monday, #NawazSharif started trending on Twitter with around 40k tweets and counting.
Enraged Sharif fans and sympathisers are suspecting foul play behind the former prime minister’s deteriorating health. They are also requesting that the government move him abroad for treatment.
Amid this, reports emerged that his daughter had been moved back to the Kot Lakhpat Jail, Lahore.
In 2017, when the Panama Papers were leaked, Sharif, his three children and his son-in-law were accused of acquiring Avenfield flats in London by siphoning off public money. The combined value of the four flats is around $9 million.
In December 2018, an anti-corruption court in Islamabad sentenced Sharif to a seven-year term for investments beyond his declared assets. He is the only Pakistani to be elected prime minister three times and has been elected chief minister of the country’s largest province of Punjab twice.