Photo leak issue: Hanif Abbasi shifted from Adiala to Attock jail

RAWALPINDI: Early morning on Saturday, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Muhammad Hanif Abbasi, who is serving a life sentence after his conviction in the ephedrine quota case, was shifted to the prison in Attock from Adiala Jail.

The step has been taken on the recommendations of a two-member inquiry committee. The incarcerated PML-N leader was shifted to Attock jail on the directives of the DIG Rawalpindi after a photo surfaced of him with Nawaz Sharif and others inside Adiala Jail before the former premier's release.

The PML-N leader Hanif Abbasi was brought to Attock Jail by a prison van. In picture, PML-N's Hanif Abbasi was in casual dress rather in prisoner dress.

The two-member committee was formed to investigate how photographs were taken of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif and others in the office of the Central Jail Adiala superintendent prior to Nawaz Sharif’s release on last Wednesday on orders of the Islamabad High Court. Abbasi was one of the leaders seen in the photo.

The Inspector General (IG) Prisons Punjab on Thursday ordered an inquiry into the matter and a notification issued from his office said, "As it is evident from media reports that at the time of release of NAB convicts, Mian Nawaz Sharif, Captain (retd) Mohammad Safdar and Maryam Nawaz on September 19, pictures of ANF prisoner Hanif Abbasi with Nawaz Sharif and others were taken and telecast on a number of TV channels as well as circulated on the social media." "ANF prisoner namely Hanif Abbasi was seen in the office of Superintendent of Central Jail, Rawalpindi, which caused adverse impression and bad name for the Prisons Department and the Government of Punjab,” it added.

The notification further said the competent authority had constituted an inquiry committee comprising DIG Prisons Malik Shaukat Feroze and AIG Judicial Malik Safdar Nawaz to probe into the matter and find out how Abbasi was allowed to enter the Admin Block and office of Jail Superintendent Saeedullah Gondal. The sources said that the committee will also interview Gondal and other jail staffers as well as view CCTV footage of the visitors. Members of the committee visited Adiala Jail and recommended that Abbasi be transferred to Attock prison, sources said.

Two photographs released on social media showed Nawaz Sharif with Shahbaz, former adviser to the prime minister on aviation Sardar Mehtab Khan, Murtaza Javed Abbasi and Raheel Munir. Another photograph showed Abbasi sitting beside Sharif in the jail superintendent’s office. The deputy inspector general of prisons Rawalpindi region could be seen sitting in the jail superintendent’s chair and speaking to both politicians.

The Anti Narcotics Force (ANF) had registered a case against Abbasi and his accomplices in June 2012 under sections 9-C, 14 and 15 of the Control of Narcotics Substances (CNS) Act for misuse of 500kg of ephedrine. The CNS Court of Rawalpindi sentenced Abbasi to lifetime in prison in the case just before the July 25 general elections. Hanif Abbasi's wife while speaking to the media said that the Punjab government and the PML-N leader's political opponents will be responsible if anything happens to him. "No prisoner, including Abbasi, can visit the superintendent's room out of his own will," she said.

Further, Abbasi's wife upheld, "Shifting him to Attock jail is the worst example of political revenge." She stated that the incarcerated PML-N leader suffers from heart ailment and has pollen allergy. "Doctors had suggested that he be kept in the jail hospital," she added while stating that authorities are not even allowing that medicines be provided to Abbasi.