RAWALPINDI/Lahore - Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz President and former Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif, his family members, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra and other party leaders Thursday met with ex-premier Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz and Capt (r) Safdar in Adiala Jail, sources said.
However, ex-adviser Tariq Fatemi and former Pemra chairman Absar Alam were not allowed to meet the Sharifs.
The other family members and party leaders who met the Sharifs included Junaid Safdar (son of Maryam Nawaz), Mahnoor Safdar and Mehr-un-Nisa (daughters of Maryam Nawaz), Raheel Munir (son-in-law of Maryam), former information minister Marriyum Aurangzeb and Senator Musaddiq Malik.
The jail authorities, according to the sources, brought the detained troika from their cells to the conference hall where they met with the visitors.
The sources said a one-on-one meeting was also held between Nawaz Sharif and Shehbaz Sharif that lasted for over 30 minutes.
During the meeting, the post-election scenario came under discussion between them. According to the sources, Nawaz Sharif said general elections 2018 had been stolen by unseen forces. He said the “tainted and dubious election results” would have a negative bearing on the country’s politics. “PTI chief Imran Khan was given victory in KP despite his party’s dismal performance in the province,” the sources quoted Sharif as saying.
He said on the basis of results in KP, results in other parts of the country have been influenced. The former premier said in certain constituencies, defeat of the PML-N was out of question but even then tables were turned against them. He mentioned the constituencies of Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Abid Sher Ali. He said the PML-N will continue to stand for the civil rights.
The former premier also expressed his concerns over the election results in Faisalabad, saying his candidates were in a very strong position, but they were declared as losers.
“Imran Khan’s position was much weaker and even worse than the 2013 general elections, but he was declared victorious in the general elections 2018,” the sources quoted Sharif as telling Shehbaz Sharif. He said a future line of action would be evolved at a party huddle to be convened soon.
He said time has come to change the trend set over the last 70 years to violate sanctity of the ballot. Nawaz Sharif wanted all institutions to work within their prescribed limit and added the past is evident that false cases were registered against them but they come out clean all the times.
According to media reports, Nawaz Sharif told the visitors that the worst kind of rigging has been perpetrated in the polls yet the party is steadfast on the narrative of giving respect to the vote. Nawaz Sharif asked the party workers to stay united under every circumstance.
Media reports say during meeting the Sharifs decided to reach out to all other parties which shared the PML-N concern over rigging in the elections and raise a collective voice against it.
Shehbaz Sharif put options before the party Quaid as to the formation of party’s government in Punjab where it has bagged maximum number of seats and also strategy in case the PTI formed government in this largest province of the country.
Shehbaz also received instructions regarding future line of action of the party after emergence of new situation, said the party sources.
Meanwhile, Nawaz Sharif’s personal physician Dr Adnan also examined the former prime minister in the jail.
PML-N Central Media Coordinator Muhammad Mehdi also met Nawaz Sharif in Adiala and shared views on the political situation.
Separately, relatives of Hanif Abbasi, who is detained in Adiala Jail after his conviction in the ephedrine smuggling case, also visited him and gave him a mattress and a pedestal fan. Jail Superintendent Saeed Ullah Gondal was not available for his comments.