LAHORE: Several leaders of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and imprisoned former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s family members met him at Kot Lakhpat Jail on Thursday.
Party leaders Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, former president Mamnoon Hussain, Khawaja Asif, Ayaz Sadiq, Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, Ahsan Iqbal, Javed Hashmi, Mariam Aurangzeb and others arrived at the prison to meet Nawaz Sharif.
A large number of party workers gathered outside the jail and chanted slogans in support of Nawaz Sharif.
Nawaz Sharif, while meeting with the PML-N leaders, was critical of how Mamnoon Hussain was treated at the prison. Nawaz Sharif was quoted as saying: “former prime ministers have been mistreated in Pakistan but this is the first time a former president has been treated this way.” He criticised jail authorities for searching the former president from head to toe, saying that Mamnoon is an elderly person but he was taken off the car and made to walk to the prison.
“No other country treats its former presidents like this,” he said.
When PML-N leaders inquired after Nawaz Sharif’s health, he said that he had been told by the doctors that he has enlarged heart. “I told doctors that I have a big heart and am a big-hearted person.”
Hussain, while speaking to reporters outside the prison, said that they met Nawaz to express faith in him and added that the former prime minister was not keeping in good health. Hussain was critical of the way Prime Minister Imran Khan was running the country, stressing that he should concentrate on the economy.
Rana Sanaullah said that punishment cannot be awarded on assumptions. “Nawaz Sharif has been sentenced to jail on assumptions and he is now being deprived of basic amenities. First, he was disqualified for not receiving money from his son and then he was disqualified for receiving money from his son. Tyranny stands erased when it defies limits. This tyrannical order is going to end,” he said.
He said that Sheikh Rasheed is the meanest fellow on the face of the earth. “Sheikh says he will do justice after becoming a member of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). If Sheikh Rasheed becomes a member of PAC then I have also filed an application with PAC Chairman Shahbaz Sharif that I should also be given the opportunity to join PAC. I will expose the ‘devil of Rawalpindi’ and I will expose his real face to the world by removing his wig. The world will see his real face for the first time,” he added.
“We have objection over the legal status of the joint investigation team (JIT) constituted to probe the Model Town incident. This JIT is the product of ‘Imran Khan-Tahirul Qadri nexus’. We respect the officers included in the JIT and we have no doubt on their character. But we have challenged the legal position of JIT,” he remarked.
Tallal Chaudhry said that the incumbent government is an incompetent government which has snatched bread from the poverty-stricken masses.
On Wednesday, a special medical board that was constituted for overseeing Nawaz Sharif’s health conducted his detailed examination at Kot Lakhpat Jail.
The board, which was formed on January 25 by the Punjab government, comprises of cardiac experts from Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology (AFIC), Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC) and Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology (RIC).
During the examination, the panel conducted blood work and heard the former premier’s complaints regarding his cardiac illness.
Nawaz is currently serving seven-year imprisonment at Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail after he was convicted by an accountability court in the Al Aziza corruption reference case filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).