Imran Khan sent a ‘Twitter prayer’ for hospitalized Nawaz Sharif

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Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan prayed for Nawaz Sharif’s recovery and directed party workers to stay away from the hospital where he is being treated and not to hold any demonstration against the ousted premier, the PTI said in a tweet. (Pakistan Tehreek Insaf via AFP)
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Pakistani security forces stand outside PIMS hospital in Islamabad, where Nawaz Sharif was admitted. (AFP)
Updated 30 July 2018
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Imran Khan sent a ‘Twitter prayer’ for hospitalized Nawaz Sharif

  • PTI directed party workers to stay away from the hospital, and not to hold any demonstration against Sharif
  • Authorities have made extra security arrangements around the medical ward where he is being treated

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, whose party has emerged as the largest in the July 25 general elections, prayed for Nawaz Sharif’s recovery and directed party workers to stay away from the hospital where he is being treated and not to hold any demonstration against the ousted premier, the PTI said in a tweet.

Sharif was shifted from jail in Rawalpindi to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) in the capital Islamabad, on Sunday, after his health deteriorated. He is suffering from heart problems.
Sharif’s party said that its leader refused earlier to go to the hospital. “After initially refusing to be shifted to PIMS, PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif agreed to be treated outside prison after consulting with his personal doctor,” Nawaz Sharif’s party Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) said in a tweet.

On Sunday at midnight, the Islamabad chief commissioner declared the medical ward where former Prime Minister Sharif was hospitalized as a sub-jail.

Sharif, 68, is serving a 10-year jail term after the national accountability bureau ruled that Sharif and his family laundered money to pay for four luxury apartments in London.
He was put in the Adiala Jail Rawalpindi after July 13, and then shifted to the hospital.
Maryam Nawaz, Sharif’s daughter, and son-in-law Captain (retired) Muhammad Safdar are also serving seven-year and one-year jail terms respectively in the same case.
Pakistan authorities have made extra security arrangements around the medical ward where three-time Pakistan premier Nawaz Sharif is being treated.


Captain Agha reiterates Pakistan’s refusal to play India at the T20 World Cup

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Captain Agha reiterates Pakistan’s refusal to play India at the T20 World Cup

  • India vs. Pakistan is usually the showpiece match in world tournaments, with the eyeballs on it rising into the hundreds of millions
  • The boycott has caused an uproar and the International Cricket Council is trying to resolve the issue with the Pakistan Cricket Board

COLOMBO: Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha has reiterated that his team will abide by his government’s ruling not to play India in the much-anticipated Twenty20 World Cup fixture next week.

India vs. Pakistan is usually the showpiece match in world tournaments — the eyeballs on it rise into the hundreds of millions. The boycott has caused an uproar and the International Cricket Council is trying to resolve the problem with the Pakistan Cricket Board.

At a captains’ media conference on Thursday, Agha repeated the team will follow its government’s advice.

“The India game is not in our control,” Agha said. “The government has decided and we respect that. Whatever they are saying we’ll do.

“We are playing three other (group) games and we are excited about that.”

Pakistan’s World Cup opener is against the Netherlands on Saturday in Colombo. It will play all of its games in co-host Sri Lanka. Namibia and the United States are also in the group. The India game is scheduled for Feb. 15 in Colombo.

In Mumbai, India captain Suryakumar Yadav said they were going to Colombo whether the match was on or not.

“(Our) mindset is pretty clear,” Yadav said. “We did not refuse to play them. The refusal came from them. ICC organized the fixture. BCCI and (Indian) government decided to play in neutral venue in coordination with ICC. Our flight to Colombo is booked. So we are going. We’ll see what happens later.”

The Pakistan government decision came after Bangladesh was kicked out of the World Cup by the ICC. Bangladesh refused to play in India for security reasons and wanted its games moved to Sri Lanka but the ICC dismissed those concerns.

Agha said he was saddened that Bangladesh wasn’t playing in the World Cup for the first time and asked Bangladeshi fans to back his team.

Pakistan has accused the ICC of double standards and not accommodating security concerns. India and Pakistan do not play in each other’s territory and meet in ICC tournaments only at neutral venues.

Their countries are embroiled in military and diplomatic tensions which have spilled into sports for more than a decade. Last year at the men’s Asian Cup and Women’s World Cup, the teams did not shake hands when they met.