RAWALPINDI: The Sharifs are behind bars in Central Jail Rawalpindi, notorious for holding hardened criminals, crime lords, extremists, high profile terrorists, public figures, convicted foreigners, death row inmates ... and many of the biggest political personalities in Pakistan’s history.
The maximum security prison, which is informally known as Adiala, was built in 1986 four kilometers from Adiala village, near a road named after the village. It replaced the demolished District Jail Rawalpindi, where Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was executed in 1979, to accommodate growing number of prisoners.
Its inmate capacity according to Punjab Prisons Department is above 1,900 yet it has more than three times with number with roughly 6,000 inmates, including hundreds of women.
Notable politicians Asif Ali Zardari, Yousaf Raza Gillani, Javed Hashmi, Nawaz Sharif, female super model Ayyan Ali, alleged Mumbai attacks mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, Mumtaz Qadri, who was executed for killing former Governor Punjab are among the high-profile inmates of this highly fortified prison, made up of eight blocks divided in to barracks.
The compound has sports and recreation facility, rehabilitation center, formal and religious education programs and satisfactory medical services.
Though the prison follows a strict visitor schedule, special permission was granted on Saturday evening to Sharif’s family members, who met Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz, and her husband retired Capt. Safdar Awan, who was apprehended last week in the Avenfield reference verdict by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
Nawaz and Awan were sentenced to a seven- and one-year prison term respectively, including hefty fines, have never been subjected to prison before, although they were subject to house detention in 1999 without charge.
Sharif’s mother, younger brother Shahbaz and his son Hamza Shahbaz, and daughter of Maryam Nawaz were reported to have held a long discussion with the three convicted prisoners.
A senior police official at Adiala jail confirmed to Arab News that the three were being held in separate cells in close proximity at a prison ward designed for privileged prisoners.
“They had a tough (Friday) night sleeping in the heat and humidity,” and complained that the bathrooms were unclean. The official said he overheard the visiting family members convincing Sharif of accepting some offered arrangement that would relieve the three of the predicament, but he declined. He said all three had been given equal “B Class” facilities.
Sharif loyalist and PML-N (Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz) leader Mushahidullah Khan also spoke of a deal offered to Sharif, but declined to disclose details or to reveal who had offered it.
“He (Sharif) rejected it before his arrest and he will maintain that position. The deal compromises the party, which is nothing without Sharif,” said the party stalwart.
Sharif 68, who was sentenced to a 10-year jail term, served as Pakistan’s prime minister three times until he was disqualified by judicial order for life last year for perjury in violation of a constitutional clause ending his political career. The former chief and face of Pakistan Muslim League-N, he has experienced the hardships of prison, but his daughter 44-year-old daughter has not.
Her defiance and bravery was demonstrated in her recent barrage of tweets against the security establishment and refusal to apply for privileged “Better class prison facilities” extended to ex-public office holders, former statesmen and retired military personnel.
In a statement issued by PML-N, Sharif’s daughter said: “I haven’t committed any crime, but I am in prison because I am daughter of a brave man. They want to make me a weakness of my father, but luckily now I am a source of [his] strength. Kindly pray for my mother’s health (comatose in London surviving on a ventilator), I wish to hug her in healthy condition.
“A television, daily newspaper, a fan, woven single bed, water cooler, attached bathroom, and a servant is provided in the small room,” said PML-N Senator Khan, who has been imprisoned numerous times in his political career. Even so, with conditions better than those of the jail’s general population, the conditions were nevertheless difficult, particularly given the stark contrast to the Sharifs’ (lavish) lifestyle.
Ousted Ex-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his political heir apparent daughter Maryam Nawaz willingly returned from Britain to serve time over corruption charges they believe have been engineered by the security establishment over several fallouts between the civil-military leadership after 2013 elections.
However, the Panama Papers leaks doomed the self-proclaimed populist chief of Pakistan’s largest, but now crippled political party, which gave cricketing-legend-turned-politician Imran Khan of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) a weapon to spearhead an anti-corruption campaign against Sharif on graft allegations and brought the matter to the apex court’s notice subsequently leading to Sharif’s downfall.
The PTI Chief has taken credit for exposing the Sharifs and has warned that Shahbaz Sharif will be next. He vowed to continue his mission to uproot corruption from the country and, in an exclusive interview with Arab News on Saturday, said that he will make wure that Pakistan People’s Party co-Chair Zardari, accused of money laundering, will be prosecuted and convicted on graft charges.
But Sharif has not given up. He released a two-minute audio message, overlaid with dramatic stills, which was apparently recorded in jail, in which he urged the nation to “respect the vote” and “defeat those who insulted the vote so they can never rise up again. Get up and spread out like a movement,” and elect PML-N, he said.
