LAHORE – Senior leaders of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) were not allowed to meet the former premier, Nawaz Sharif at the Kot Lakhpat Jail on Thursday.
As the day is reserved for meetings, scores of PML-N leaders and loyalists gathered outside the jail to meet Nawaz Sharif, however, bigwigs like Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Ahsan Iqbal, Khawaja Asif and other parliamentarians were barred from calling on the incarcerated Sharif.
The jail authorities only allowed Nawaz’s immediate family members to meet the former prime minister, irking the party leaders and President Shehbaz Sharif who alleged that Prime Minister Imran Khan was not allowing people to meet him [Nawaz].
The younger Sharif addressed the party workers and urged them to stay firm and calm.
“Time is near when Imran Khan will be in the court of the people. PML-N leaders are here for the weekly meeting. Imran Khan, let them meet their leader,” said Shehbaz during in his brief speech.
The PML-N chief also dished in on the arrest of some PML-N leaders, alleging that Rana Sanaullah and Salman Rafique were being deprived of all basic rights.
Sharif is behind bars in the Al-Azizia reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
An accountability court had sentenced him to seven-year rigorous imprisonment after finding him guilty in the reference; Sharif was initially shifted to the Adiala Jail, however, he was later shifted to the Kot Lakhpat jail.
A few days earlier, the Punjab government had decided that Sharif’s food would be prepared in the jail.
