Nawaz’s foreign travel for treatment: Chaudhrys of Gujrat empathetic, humane politics above partisanship

ISLAMABAD: The Chaudhrys of Gujrat have exhibited their cherished values, norms and decency in recurrently urging Premier Imran Khan to let deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif go abroad without attaching any strings to his departure for Britain for medical treatment.

Both Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) President Shujaat Hussain and Punjab Assembly Speaker Pervaiz Elahi have no love lost for the gravely ill Sharif owing to their great political differences that date back to the carving of their party out of the PML-Nawaz in the early days of Pervez Musharraf’s martial law.

For the past two decades, the Sharifs and Chaudhrys have fought elections against each other with their bitterness intensifying. They have also been trading barbs. However, both the families have never skipped the basic human values and norms when they are grieved or down for health reasons.

When a few weeks back Shujaat Hussain returned from Germany after treatment, PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif phoned him to inquire about his health. Before that, the Chaudhrys visited the Jati Umra residence of Sharifs to condole the death of Begum Kulsoom. Despite acute political acrimony, the two sides have always maintained such kind of empathetic relations to share each other’s grief.

Now when it came to Nawaz Sharif’s universally accepted highly critical illness, the Chaudhrys set their politics aside and affiliation with the ruling coalition and repeatedly called on Imran Khan to shun every political consideration on the critical health issues. They also stressed that if anything happens to the ex-premier, the prime minister will be solely held responsible and will have to face the ensuing storm single-handed; it would be difficult for him to wash away this “stigma”; he should show large-heartedness; it is ludicrous that on one hand permission is stated to have been given to Nawaz Sharif on humanitarian grounds and on the other, surety bond is being sought; and PML-Q Minister Tariq Bashir Cheema forcefully argued in the federal cabinet that the ex-premier must be permitted to proceed abroad without any condition.

Most of the members of the medical board and doctors, who attended Nawaz Sharif in the Services Hospital Lahore, were recruited during Pervaiz Elahi’s incumbency as the chief minister. Apart from what was publicly released about the former prime minister’s health, he personally inquired from the specialists about his condition. Then, he was convinced that the ex-premier was gripped by a very bad health and needs urgent treatment of his choice. He conveyed this to Imran Khan as well, arguing that there should be no delay on the part of the government in allowing his foreign travel without any conditionality. He denounced the demand of indemnity bond valuing Rs7.5 billion and also pointed out that Nawaz Sharif has no property or assets in his name. Shujaat Hussain, who is an astute politician and a man of a few words, has spoken a lot these days, infusing a sense of urgency in the government about Nawaz Sharif’s grave health. At the same time he has been critical of the prevailing economic situation and his hardest comment came when he remarked that the state of affairs will reach a level in six months because of inflation and price hike with salaried/fixed income people dying that nobody would like to be the prime minister.

This left no doubt that it is not only the serious ailment of the former premier that has persuaded the Chaudhrys from taking a stand starkly clashing with that of the government, there are also some other issues that have caused an apparent distancing from official policies and approach.

Like for example, the government has been perennially derisive of Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s politics, but the Chaudhrys have met him to congratulate on the success of his Azadi March. “We are with Fazlur Rehman,” commented Pervaiz Elahi, who played a key role in convincing him into calling his sit-in.

The Chaudhrys’ overall stand create some natural questions in public minds: Does it indicate any bigger political game that may unfold in the weeks to come in view of the fact that they are very well-connected and understand politics much better than several politicians? What does sudden activation of the Chaudhrys, who are otherwise very careful and cautious, mean?

The Chaudhrys are not the only ally of the prime minister, who have publicly spoken against the cabinet decision regarding Nawaz Sharif’s foreign travel. Muttahidda Qaumi Movement (MQM) lawmaker Aminul Haq urged the government in the National Assembly on Friday to allow the patient to leave Pakistan for medical treatment. Ghous Bux Khan Mahar belonging to another coalition partner, Grand Democratic Alliance, endorsed his demand and said that the government "should not do politics over ex-prime minister’s health" and its condition to submit an indemnity bond was "ridiculous".

Also Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, who is more close to the government than the opposition, has also ruled that the government should let Nawaz Sharif go abroad without any conditions and provide best medical facilities to ailing former President Asif Ali Zardari. The Supreme Court Bar Association and the Pakistan Bar Council have also deprecated the decision to attach “unreasonable and illegal” conditions to the former premier’s departure for Britain and asked the government to let him proceed abroad immediately without any strings.