Pakistan’s Sharif to have open-heart surgery in London

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will undergo open-heart surgery in a London hospital next Tuesday, officials said on Friday.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the prime minister said the ailing premier, who has been in London for the past three days, had been admitted to the hospital for the proposed surgery.

“After doing various tests, including an angiography, doctors have suggested that the prime minister has to undergo open-heart surgery,” the statement said, adding that Sharif will remain admitted to the hospital for a week after the surgery is done.

This is Sharif’s second visit to London for medical treatment in less than a month.

Though there is as yet no official announcement regarding the acting prime minister, a cabinet member wishing not to be named told Anadolu Agency that Sharif’s close relative and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar would run government affairs in his absence.

Sharif has been under tremendous pressure from the opposition and the media after the Panama Papers revealed that his two sons and a daughter owned offshore companies.

The government and the opposition, which had already reached an agreement for probing corruption charges against Sharif’s family, are busy preparing terms and references for forming a Supreme Court commission to probe the charges.

Meanwhile, on Twitter, the prime minister’s daughter Maryam Sharif appealed to the nation to pray for her father’s speedy recovery.