Islamabad: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is overseeing day-to-day affairs of the state from London, where he is due to undergo open heart surgery on Tuesday, the PM House here said in a statement on Saturday.
The prime minister, in London since May 22, is duly assisted by his Principal Secretary, Military Secretary and other staff, the statement said.
He is kept abreast on routine matters of the country and his directions are accordingly conveyed to the concerned quarters, the PM house said.
The statement said the country’s chief executive is in constant contact with federal ministers and others concerned.
It is important to note that there are no postponements or delays in matters pertaining to the routine functioning of the state, it added.
Nawaz Sharif will undergo heart surgery on Tuesday as advised by doctors and he will be travelling back to Pakistan on the advice of the doctors after the surgery, the spokesman of PM House said.
The spokesman said that all the present and previous expenditures incurred on the prime minister’s treatment, medical tests and lodging in UK are borne by the family and no expenses are claimed from the national exchequer.
Meanwhile government ministers and close aides of Nawaz Sharif held a meeting on Saturday to consult over the government business in the absence of the ailing prime minister.
Federal Minister of Finance Ishaq Dar chaired the meeting, which was also attended by Chief Minister of Punjab Shahbaz Sharif, younger brother of the prime minister.
Information Minister Pervaiz Rasheed, talking to a private television channel, said that the prime minister has been in constant touch with his ministers and denied any crisis-like situation in the country.
The minister said the country does not require an acting head of the government in the absence of the prime minister.
“The prime minister has been in constant contact with ministers,” Rasheed said, adding that the prime minister had issued directives on key governance matters.
Dar is running government matters with consultation of cabinet colleagues, according to the information minister.
Former chief justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar Chaudhry, expressed the opinion that a constitutional crisis was in the offing.
Speaking to the media here, the ex-chief justice pointed out that the country’s constitution does not provide for appointment of an acting prime minister.
He said the country, a nuclear power, cannot afford to be without a chief executive as any emergency situation requiring immediate decision can suddenly arise.
Chaudry said even the national budget due to be presented in early June cannot be passed.
He demanded that the ruling party elect a new prime minister through the parliament to cope with the existing circumstances.
The former chief justice said Nawaz Sharif can be re-elected as PM after his recovery and return from London.
The 66-year-old premier is expected to stay in hospital for around a week after the procedure to recover before travelling home.
The details of the operation were not given, but in a series of tweets, his daughter, Mariam Nawaz Sharif, said her father had been experiencing unspecified symptoms.
“Due to certain recent symptoms, doctors made further investigations ... The team of cardiologists and cardiac surgeons after thorough examination scans and tests, have decided to go for an open heart surgery,” she tweeted late Friday.
“PM in 2011 had a cardiac procedure called ‘Atrial Fibrillation Ablation’, during which certain complications occurred resulting in Perforation of heart which was in turn treated by open heart surgery,” she added.
“The recovery period and hospital stay will be one week and he will travel Insha’Allah (God willing) back to Pak as soon as the doctors allow. Prayers needed.”
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among those who responded to the tweets, wishing Sharif a speedy recovery and good health.
A senior Pakistani government official told AFP, “It may take little over a week for the prime minister to recover and travel back to Pakistan.”
Sharif has been under pressure since the so-called Panama Papers leak linked his family to a series of offshore companies.
The premier insists his family has done “nothing wrong”, saying the claims had been investigated twice, decades ago, under the tenure former military ruler Pervez Musharraf.
The Panama Papers have whipped up a storm of controversy over offshore wealth, ensnaring political leaders, sports figures and underworld members across the globe in the scandal.
The May 2013 general election saw Sharif take power in a landslide, for the third time.
Sharif has a power base rooted in Pakistan’s richest and most populous province, where he is known as the Lion of the Punjab.
AFP
