Unacceptable for former PM Nawaz Sharif to be jailed in 'abysmal conditions', brother Shehbaz writes to Punjab government

Islamabad: Pakistan’s jailed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has been kept in “abysmal conditions” and deprived of a newspaper and bed and uses a “dirty” washroom in the high-security Adiala prison in Rawalpindi, according to a letter written by his brother Shehbaz Sharif. The letter was written by Shehbaz to caretaker chief minister of Punjab Hasan Askari Rizvi. It came after Shehbaz, Sharif’s younger brother and former chief minister of the province, visited the former prime minister with his family on Saturday. [caption id=“attachment_4750011” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Nawaz Sharif and daughter Maryam on their way back to Pakistan on Friday. Reuters[/caption] “I want to draw your attention to the abysmal conditions under which Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, former prime minister of Pakistan, is languishing in the high-security Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi,” he wrote. Sharif, 68, and his daughter Maryam, 44, were arrested in Lahore on 13 July on their arrival from London after an accountability court found them guilty over his family’s ownership of four luxury flats in London. They were later taken to Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi. Shehbaz, president of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), went on to highlight the conditions faced by the former prime minister in jail. “It was noted during my visit that Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif was not even given a newspaper to read, his mattress was on the floor and the washroom at his disposal was in a dirty despicable condition, with no air conditioner in his room,” the letter said. Shehbaz complained that no attendant was provided and medical facility also was not up to the mark to take care of Sharif who is a heart and diabetic patient. He said Sharif needed medicine on time and frequent visits of a doctor and requested that his personal doctor, who knows his medical condition, be allowed to visit him twice a day to administer medicine and examine a clean 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 wrote. Earlier, it was said by the jail authorities that Sharif was given B-class facilities which entitled him to have an attendant and facilities like bed, TV, air-conditioner, newspaper and home cooked food at his own cost. Sharif and Maryam have been sentenced by an accountability court to 10 and seven years in prison respectively for corruption charges linked to the Panama Papers scandal. Sharif was disqualified by the Supreme Court last year in the Panama Papers case.