ISLAMABAD: Leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party could not meet the founding head of their political faction, Nawaz Sharif, and his daughter, Maryam, in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail on Thursday due to Eid holidays at the prison facility.

The former prime minister, along with his daughter and son-in-law, were hoping to celebrate Eid Al-Adha at their home with their family.

However, an Islamabad High Court division bench, which was hearing petitions for their release, postponed its verdict at the last moment, forcing the convicted politicians to spend the festivity behind bars.

Nawaz Sharif had been sentenced to 10 years in prison for corruption on July 6 after the National Accountability Bureau, the country’s anti-graft body, said that he and family members had paid for four luxury apartments in London with laundered money.

The leader of opposition in Pakistan’s National Assembly, Mian Shehbaz Sharif, met with his brother and niece in Adiala on Wednesday.

Sharif had sought special permission from the jail authorities to meet with his imprisoned family members on the first day of Eid Al-Adha.

Those who accompanied him included Nawaz Sharif’s mother, Suleman Shehbaz, and other members of the Sharif family.

 The PML-N leaders are now likely to meet the former prime minister on Friday. 

However, the IHC will not take up the petition for his release before the summer vacations come to an end on Sept. 11.