Maryam refuses special treatment on first day in jail

• Former first daughter says does not want B-class facilities, wants to be treated like other prisoners as Nawaz complains of inadequate facilities
• Al Azizia, Hill Metal cases to be heard inside Adiala Jail 

ISLAMABAD: Convicted ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who was sent to Adiala Jail on Friday night along with his daughter Maryam Nawaz, was allowed to meet his family, including his mother, and his legal team at the Adiala Jail on Saturday, as the former first daughter reportedly refused to accept better class (B-class) facilities offered to her by the prison authorities.

Nawaz’s mother Shamim Akhtar arrived at the Adiala Jail along with her younger son Shehbaz Sharif and his sons Hamza and Suleman Shehbaz to meet her son and granddaughter on Saturday evening.

Earlier, Nawaz’s legal team visited him to attain the power of attorney so that an appeal could be filed in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) against the anti-graft decision in the Avenfield reference that sentenced the former premier and his daughter to 10 years and seven years rigorous imprisonment besides hefty fines, respectively.

According to sources, Nawaz’s cell lacked proper bedding and air-conditioner. “He has been provided only a single mattress on the floor.”

“The bathroom conditions are despicable and I am being deprived of newspapers as well,” the deposed PM was quoted as saying.

MARYAM DOESN’T WANT SPECIAL TREATMENT:

On the other hand, only Advocate Amjad Pervaiz was allowed to meet his client Maryam Nawaz.

Maryam was moved to the Sihala Rest House on Friday night after it was declared a sub-jail by the authorities concerned, however she refused to get any special treatment and insisted that she be kept along with other prisoners in Adiala Jail and be served the same food as them.

In a signed letter released by the PML-N social media wing, Maryam says, “I was offered to apply for the better class (B-class) facilities by the superintendent of the jail, as per rules, that I refused of my own will. This is purely my own decision, taken without any pressure from anyone.”

According to sources, the plan regarding keeping the father-daughter duo’s stay at the jail was changed thrice after it was decided to allot the former prime minister ‘B’ class cell which has facilities like a bed, newspaper, and a 21-inch television.

JAIL TRIAL:

The legal proceedings of the remaining two National Accountability Bureau (NAB) reference cases against Sharifs will now take place in Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi. Besides Nawaz, sons Hasan and Hussain are named in the two references that pertained to Al Azizia Mills and Hill Metal Establishment.

According to a notification issued by Pakistan’s Ministry of Law and Justice, “In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (b) of section 16 of the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999 (XVIII of 1999), the federal government is pleased to specify the Central Jail Adiala, Rawalpindi, to be the place where the Accountability Court-I, Islamabad shall sit for trial of References No. 18/2017 and 19/2017 against Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and others.”

ARREST:

The convicted father-daughter duo landed in Lahore amid an impressive power show put up by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), as thousands of workers and sympathisers reached the Mall Road by breaking through cordons amid an unwarranted police crackdown ordered by the interim provincial government.

As soon as he landed in Lahore, the deposed prime minister and his daughter were taken to the Haj Terminal. After completing the immigration formalities, Nawaz and Maryam were put on a private jet and flown to Islamabad from where they were escorted to the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi amid tight security for medical examination.

The Sharifs, travelling to Lahore via Abu Dhabi from London, were supposed to reach Lahore around 6pm; however, their flight got postponed due to an unexpected three-hour delay. As reporters were not allowed to meet the Sharifs at the Abu Dhabi airport, Nawaz had addressed them through a telephone, according to a BBC reporter, and said that “the country’s fate needs to be changed—we need to be harbinger of this change”.

During the call, he had wondered how a flight “that is never late” had been delayed and urged people to “think about who delayed this flight and why”.

Commenting on the media blackout of the coverage of his party’s ‘welcome’ procession in Lahore, Nawaz had said, “They are afraid that’s why they are doing this.” From several speeches of his and Maryam, it can be deduced by ‘they’ he meant the military establishment.

He had also interlinked the arrests of his party workers, media blackout, and a forced change of party leaders’ loyalties to ‘pre-poll rigging’.

A defiant Nawaz had told journalists that he was not afraid to go to jail and “it does not matter whether I am arrested from Abu Dhabi [where the NAB team had reached to arrest him] or Lahore”.

“I am ready for it,” he had said.