An ex-premier is convicted of massive corruption, loot and plunder and is sent to jail. A few days in prison, he suddenly falls ill and implores the authorities to grant him permission to go abroad for medical treatment. Lo and behold, the permission is granted and he leaves the country. He now roams free at distant shores. Fit as a fiddle, he is seen visiting restaurants and resorts, shops around, holds party meetings with friends and lawyers and issues political statements.

The people and the media are up in arms. Questions are raised and probes are demanded into the entire saga. Just who paved the way for the ex-premier’s smooth ‘’escape’ from the country and away from the clutches of accountability?

No marks for guessing as to whose case is in question here. This is the tale of ex-PM and PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif ‘s controversial ‘escape’ abroad that to this day remains a mystery. The analysts and keen political observers, however, claim that former premier successfully managed to “hoodwink” the courts and the accountability system to escape abroad.

It is notable that from the lower to apex court, they do allow treatment of convicts and criminals at hospitals under extraordinary circumstances. However, not a single convict has ever been allowed to travel abroad for medical treatment. Nawaz Sharif’s case, therefore, is the first of its kind in which a person who was penalised by the court for several offences was allowed to travel abroad for medical treatment.

In 2019 when Nawaz was in NAB custody at the Kot Lakhpat jail, his doctor Adnan Khan said the former PM has been detected to have critically low platelet count and is suffering from serious cardiac issues that require immediate in-hospital care. “I’ve requested the concerned authorities to act in urgency please.”

Detailed medical reports were presented to the authorities and at the courts by the Services Institute of Medical Sciences (SIMS) and Sharif Medical City according to which Nawaz Sharif was diagnosed with immune thrombocytopenia which causes the breakdown of blood cells.

A four-week time period was soon granted for his treatment abroad against personal undertakings and guarantees.

The amount of pressure exerted on the ruling party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf resulted in one-time permission for Nawaz to travel abroad but after submission of a surety bond of Rs 7 billion, the amount calculated by NAB in the cases he was sentenced in.

The PML-N rejected the terms set and approached the Lahore High Court which subsequently suspended the condition of surety bond but sought an affidavit from Shahbaz Sharif for the return of his elder brother.

The younger Sharif then signed an undertaking which stated he would ensure the return of his brother within four weeks or on certification  by doctors that he has regained good health and is fit to return back to Pakistan.

The document signed by Shehbaz Sharif further said “I further undertake to provide/send the periodical medical report of the doctor duly notarized by the embassy to the registrar of this court.”

An air ambulance was arranged by Qatar to take Nawaz to London. “Initially, we are going to London, but we will move to any other country as per doctors’ advice,” Shehbaz said adding that if needed, he will stay abroad with his brother.

In the undertaking, Nawaz also assured that he would return “within four weeks”. However,  Additional Attorney General (AAG) Chaudhry Ishtiaq A. Khan, representing the government, opposed the undertaking submitted and said it did not mention when Nawaz would leave Pakistan and when he would return.

“But if the court is satisfied, we (the government) have no objections, submitted the AAG in the court.”

When Bol News spoke to senior lawyer and former Attorney General of Pakistan, Anwar Mansoor Khan, he claimed that Nawaz Sharif’s departure from the country on medical grounds was managed and manipulated. He said doctors looking after Nawaz had given him medicines which lowered platelet count and started descending very quickly. “Ät that point, the whole country panicked and the government, too, relented.

“But let me tell you that the government had no role in the escaping of Nawaz,” the former AGP categorically told Bol News an added that the state institutions [establishment] too had no role in the matter either. “It was purely a court matter,” Mansoor said.

To a questiion, Mansoor said the PTI government was committed to bringing back Nawaz, but there were deep legal issues hampering it. “We don’t have any extradition treaty with UK that’s why the government couldn’t bring Nawaz Sharif back as yet but for such accused special measures are taken and the government has been taking those.”

Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid, who often gets blamed for her sketchy approach in allowing the PML-N supremo to fly abroad, defended herself and said Nawaz Sharif was allowed to travel abroad on humanitarian grounds.

Former Prosecutor General NAB Raja Aamir Abbas told Bol News that NAB had challenged every order of the superior courts in which the former premier was facilitated on medical grounds.  “NAB had challenged  the Islamabad High Court’s order in Supreme Court, and later also opposed Lahore High Court’s order allowing Nawaz Sharif to travel abroad.”

According to Abbas, though it was a smart move by the PTI government to set a Rs 7 billion surety bond condition, the Lahore High Court did not agree to this and the convicted ex-PM managed to travel abroad after submitting merely a Rs 50 affidavit.

The former PG NAB said that whatever medical treatment Nawaz Sharif underwent in the UK is quite visible. He said plea of former premier for visa extension had been rejected by the UK court on grounds that he did not undergo any medical treatment during his stay in the United Kingdom. “Now plea of Nawaz against the court order is pending.”

To a query, Raja Aamir further said that Islamabad High Court had also not entertained requests of the former PM regarding continuing hearing his appeal against the conviction, even if he doesn’t appear for medical reasons.  “Islamabad High Court has turned down his pleas and has declared Nawaz Sharif a proclaimed offender,” he said. To another query, Raja Aamir said NAB should have challenged medical reports of Nawaz Sharif submitted by his legal team before the court to contest for his early return.