Nawaz Sharif granted 8-week bail on medical grounds in Al-Azizia case

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday granted bail to Pakistan's former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on medical grounds for eight weeks in the Al Azizia Steel Mills case.

The verdict was announced after a two-member bench, comprising Justice Aamir Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani, heard the bail petition filed by Sharif's brother and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president Shehbaz Sharif, reported Dawn.

The former Prime Minister had procured the bail on medical grounds last week in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills from the Lahore High Court.

During the hearing, the court asked doctors, who are part of the medical board overseeing Nawaz's treatment, if it was possible for Nawaz to recover without staying in the hospital, to which the doctor responded in negative and said that the PML-N supremo required medical supervision at all times.

The medical board informed the court that Nawaz had been given 80 injections in order to bring his platelet count -- which was reported to have dropped to dangerous levels -- to normal.

"He (Nawaz) is still unstable. I have never seen him in such an alarming condition," Nawaz's personal physician Adnan Khan said in the court, adding that Nawaz's blood pressure had shot up after dinner on Monday night as well.

During the hearing, Nawaz's lawyer Khawaja Haris expressed dissatisfaction with the medical care received by Nawaz, saying, "so far we are not satisfied with the medical board's treatment. The board itself is saying in its report that it is unable to manage [Nawaz's treatment]."

"Services hospital does not have machinery to conduct [medical] tests. Nawaz Sharif has to be taken to different places for his tests to be conducted."

The ailing Pakistani leader was serving a seven-year imprisonment in the Al-Azizia case in Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore. Besides this, he was remanded in NAB custody in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills matter.

On October 22, Nawaz was rushed to Lahore's Services Hospital from the NAB office after a massive drop in his platelet count.