Daily Times

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif on Monday requested the caretaker government to provide facilities to party supremo Nawaz Sharif in jail in line with his stature as a former prime minister.

The deposed prime minister and his daughter Maryam were arrested on July 13 upon their arrival in Lahore, a week after being sentenced to prison in the Avenfield reference. They were imprisoned in Adiala jail the same day.

In a letter to caretaker Prime Minister Justice (r) Nasirul Mulk, the PML-N president highlighted the ‘abysmal conditions’ under which his brother was ‘languishing in the high-security Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi.’ “It was noted during my visit that Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif was not even given a newspaper to read; his bed was a mattress on the floor and the washroom at his disposal was in a despicable condition, plus there is no air conditioner in his room,” he wrote.

Shehbaz further stated in the letter that an attendant was not present with Nawaz and the medical check-up facility was not up to the mark. He noted that his brother was a heart and diabetes patient and required timely medicines plus frequent visits of a doctor.

Shehbaz requested that the prisoner’s personal doctor, who was aware of his medical condition, should be allowed to visit him twice a day to administer medicines and supervise a nutritious diet. “It is very unfortunate that Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, three-time prime minister of Pakistan, is being treated in such a shabby manner. This situation is unacceptable, given the minimum facilities he is entitled to as former prime minister,” he observed.

Shehbaz also wrote a separate letter to Punjab’s interim Chief Minister Dr Hasan Askari, asking him to ensure that medical facilities are provided to Nawaz. He also requested that the former prime minister’s medical check-up be conducted regularly during his stay in jail.

Earlier in the day, PML-N leader Pervaiz Rasheed said Nawaz, Maryam and Capt (r) Safdar should be granted the same relief as former president Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur. “The court earlier upheld that no candidate should be barred from participating in the electoral process till the July 25 polls are over and this was the basis on which Zardari and Talpur were granted relief,” the former information minister said while speaking to media outside the Islamabad High Court (IHC). “Nawaz, Maryam, Capt (r) Safdar and Qamar-ul-Islam Raja should be granted the same relief,” he argued.

Published in Daily Times, July 17^th 2018.