Strike plea bargain with NAB to go abroad, Fawad tells Nawaz

LAHORE: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry said on Sunday all the confusion surrounding former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s treatment was caused by his insistence on undergoing treatment in London.

“Nawaz Sharif has an option of entering into a plea bargain with the National Accountability (NAB) to get out of jail in order to be able to go abroad,” he said while addressing a press conference alongside Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid.

Chaudhry said the Sharif family had no trust in the hospitals they had built in Pakistan.

“Nawaz Sharif was offered treatment of his choice,” he said, adding that the Punjab home ministry offered to have him treated at a government hospital of his choice and even, the government allowed him to call in a doctor of his choice from abroad if he wanted to.

The minister said a doctor and three technicians were present at Kot Lakhpat Jail round the clock to tend to the former prime minister in any emergency situation.

He said the provincial government took extraordinary steps for the treatment of Sharif, adding that it couldn’t do more than whatever it had done so far for him.

“The Sharif brothers said there are no adequate healthcare facilities in Pakistan. Isn’t a person who remained Punjab chief minister for 25 years responsible for this,” questioned Chaudhry.