The VIP cells of Attock jail in Pakistan’s Punjab province were being readied, giving strong indications that former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his brother would be arrested and lodged there on their return from exile, media reports said.
The renovation of the VIP cells began soon after the Sharif brothers announced the date of their return from their forced exile, private news channel Geo TV reported.
“The rooms of the VIP ward are being washed away and the walls being painted. Curtains of windows and bed sheets have been changed. New furniture has been kept in the rooms,” Geo TV quoted official sources as saying.
Pakistan authorities have said that old cases against Sharif would be revived on his return to his home country.
Sharif and his brother, former Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif, will be arrested from the Islamabad airport on September 10, when they are scheduled to return to Pakistan and will be taken to the Attock jail, the report said.
The two-time former prime minister plans to return to Pakistan on Monday despite a reported request from Saudi authorities to the exiled leader not to go back. Sharif’s elected government was ousted in a 1999 coup by General Pervez Musharraf. Sharif was exiled to Saudi Arabia in 2000 after a Pakistani court convicted and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
Although Musharraf has repeatedly said Sharif left Pakistan under a deal in which he agreed not to return home for 10 years, the Supreme Court last month ruled that he had an “inalienable right” to return home.
Gambling market
Meanwhile, Bookies in Pakistan are betting heavily in favour of Sharif not returning back from his forced exile, a newsreport said. “Nawaz Sharif is not returning to Pakistan,” according to bets offered by bookies. The rate given by bookies in the gambling market was 1:10 (1 for the return of Nawaz Sharif and 10 for not returning).
Farooq Cheema, an expert on the gambling market in Karachi, said according to speculation of bookies there are 10 per cent chances of Sharifs return, while 90 per cent chances are that he would not get back.
MUSHARRAF’S TERM
Pervez Musharraf’s term as Pakistan President will expire on November 15 but he will remain in uniform till a new Army chief is appointed to replace him, the General’s counsel told the Supreme Court which had sought to know when his dual office period would come to an end. Syed Sharifuddin Pirzada, Musharraf’s counsel, in a written statement to the court said that the General will remain President till November 15.
He also informed the seven-member bench headed by reinstated Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry that Mushararf will remain in uniform even after November 15 till a new Army Chief is appointed to replace him.
The bench, while hearing a petition from Jamaat-e-Islami, challenging an Act that allows Musharraf to hold two offices of the President and the Army Chief, had yesterday pointedly asked Pirzada to enquire from the President when his dual office period would come to an end.
