RAWALPINDI - Adiala Jail authorities are reportedly planning to shift Maryam Nawaz Sharif from Adiala Jail to Sihala Rest House apparently due to security reasons, reliable sources disclosed to The Nation on Wednesday.
A formal request in this regard has also been moved to the Punjab Home Department by Superintendent of Adiala Jail Saeed Ullah Gondal, the sources added. However, the officials of Punjab Home Department have not yet responded back to the jail authorities.
According to sources, Maryam Nawaz, the daughter of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, might be transferred from Adiala Jail to Sihala Rest House in next 48 hours. They said the jail authorities formally intimated the Punjab Home Department in this regard and has been waiting for reply of the department.
Maryam, who along with his father and husband was sentenced to imprisonment for 7 years by an accountability court in the Avenfield Reference, is currently detained in the women cell of Adiala Jail.
However, the security agencies in their reports have warned the jail authorities about the risk to life of Maryam. In the lights of the reports, the jail authorities have decided to shift Maryam to the Sihala Rest House.
A senior officer, who is associated with country’s top security department, confirmed to The Nation that the jail authorities are contemplating to shift Maryam from Adiala Jail. “Superintendent Adiala Jail wrote a letter to the Punjab Home Department in this regard but found no reply yet,” he added. “It may take 48 hours to move Maryam to the Sihala Rest House,” he said. Punjab Home Minister and Adiala Jail Superintendent were not available for their comments.
Meanwhile, former political secretary to prime minister Dr Asif Kirmani on Wednesday asked the Adiala Jail authorities to give permission to party leaders and workers to meet Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz.
He stated this while talking to media men during his visit to Adiala Jail after the jail authorities refused to allow him to meet former premier and his daughter.
He said that he cannot make any comment about status and condition of Nawaz Sharif unless have a meeting with him. The jail administration stopped the party workers and leaders but they would come to the place to express their solidarity with their leaders, he said.
Kirmani said July 13 was the day when people saw the repercussions of the narrative of Nawaz Sharif. “On the arrival of Nawaz Sharif, the caretaker government’s neutrality has been exposed and it turned the Lahore into a jail for the people,” he said.
“The transparency of election became a question after the police action against PML-N workers. No level-playing field is provided to all candidates and political parties, and action is being taken against a specific political party,” he said.
He said: “It is a pre-election rigging but people will foil their attempts to wipe out PML-N from the scene.” He said that people would bring Nawaz picture in the polling station and stamp on the tiger.
He said that people knew about those who used abusive language for political workers and their opponents and they would respond those politicians on July 25 to reject them as in the society nobody allowed to use bad language for others.
To a question about Maryam Nawaz son Junaid Safdar’s visit to Adiala jail, he said that he was in the country and soon come to Adiala jail to meet his parents.
Meanwhile, PML-N female workers from Gujranwala arrived outside the Adiala Jail to express their solidarity with Nawaz and Maryam. They gathered in front of Adiala Jail and chanted slogans against jail administration and the caretaker government.
Israr Ahmed
