PRIME Minister Nawaz Sharif`s heart ailment tool< me down memory lane. Some three decades back on a fine Eid morning, my father, who was about 67 or 68 at the time, complained of digestive trouble and chest pain. We rushed him to a nearby large public hospital but the doctors who examined him said he had had a massive heart attack and would need a pacemaker, which they didn`t have.

Our only hope was to get hold of the now deceased eminent cardiologist Dr Haq, who worked for the NICVD and was said to have a spare pacemaker (which was a rarity then) and was a pioneer of the work. He was out meeting folks at Eid and rushed to see our father, a stranger for him, and arranged his transfer to the cardiovascular hospital and fitted the device.

Father was very fortunate to survive and recovered so fast that even Dr Haq remarked he`d never seen anyone his age get well as rapidly. Dad remained under his care after that and had resumed normal activities soon enough.

A couple of years later, he announced he wanted to visit Islamabad and Azad Kashmir to see the Bangladeshi ambassador and the Kashmiri president, respectively, to advise them of some schemes that would help alleviate the poverty of their people.

We didn`t want him to go, keeping in mind his past illness, but Dr Haq gave his assent, laughingly telling us not to keep him from his philanthropic work.

Our father was well received by his hosts, after which he began the return journey by train and made an unscheduled stopover en route to meet an old friend. There, he had another attack and passed away very peacefully during conversation.

The moral of the story is that however much Mr. Sharif may want to serve Pakistan, and however much his family may wish to see him continue as prime minister