Nawaz heads back to jail after expiry of bail

LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo and ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif left for Kot Lakhpat prison with his entourage on Tuesday evening, following the expiry of his six-week bail in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption reference, Geo News reported.

Sharif’s daughter Maryam and nephew Hamza Shahbaz, along with Mohammad Zubair, Talal Chaudhry and other party leaders, were accompanying the former prime minister.Hundreds of PML-N workers turned up on the occasion to express solidarity with the party supremo and showered his vehicle with rose petals. Maryam tweeted several videos of Nawaz’s loyalists, who gathered to express their support for their leader, and said the passion of party workers was unbelievable.

Earlier in the day, jail officials reached Jati Umra to escort the former prime minister to the prison, as the home department Punjab had earlier instructed Sharif to reach Kot Lakhpat jail by 5pm. The officials said the former premier’s arrival in the form of a rally would be against the law.

Protesting against the instructions, PML-N leader Rana Sanaullah said in Geo News programme ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Saath’ that Sharif’s bail was valid till the midnight of May 7, and questioned why the party Quaid should have to reach the jail anytime before that. In the late night development, the home ministry Punjab instructed Kot Lakhpat jail’s administration to let Sharif in, sources told Geo News

A three-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa last week rejected a petition by Sharif for an extension in the bail granted to him on medical grounds in the Al-Azizia reference. The court also rejected the former premier’s plea to allow him to travel abroad for treatment.

Sharif had been granted bail on medical grounds by the apex court on March 26 for six weeks. On April 25, he had submitted a review petition in the Supreme Court seeking a permanent bail. His bail expired on Tuesday.