Sharif’s prison term ‘may aid his party in elections’

FORMER PRIME MINISTER AND DAUGHTER JAILED AFTER RETURNING TO PAKISTAN

FORMER Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif was arrested on his re­turn to the country last Friday (13), where he faces 10 years in prison for corruption, ahead of already tense elections that his party claims are be­ing rigged.

Sharif and his daughter Maryam were “ arrested” by corruption authori­ties “with immediate effect and till further orders”, according to a state­ment from the Islamabad city adminis­tration. They landed in Lahore and were then taken to the capital, the statement said.

An anti-corruption official confirmed the arrests on condition of anonymity.

Sharif, who claims that he is being targeted by the country’s powerful se­curity establishment, is fighting for his political life as his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party limps into the final weeks of campaigning ahead of nationwide polls next Wednesday (25).

Some 15,000 singing and dancing supporters lined the Mall, Lahore’s main thoroughfare, ahead of Sharif’s return from London, media there said.

Lahore is the capital of Punjab prov­ince, Pakistan’s most populous and a PML-N stronghold.

A smaller contingent of around two dozen supporters waited on the road to Adiala prison in Rawalpindi, the garrison city neighbouring Islamabad, where Sharif was expected to be taken before going to a guest house on the outskirts of the capital which authori­ties said had been declared a “sub-jail”.

Roughly 100 police officers had blocked the road to the jail with freight containers, a reporter said.

Analysts said Sharif’s return – a week after he was sentenced in absen­tia to 10 years in prison by a corruption court over the purchase of high-end properties in London – could help lift his party’s fortunes ahead of the vote.

“I know that... I will be directly taken to jail,” Sharif, who was ousted for cor­ruption by the supreme court last year and later also banned from politics for life, said in a video released by his party earlier last Friday.

He asked Pakistanis to “walk with me, join hands with me and change the destination of the country”.

Last Thursday (12), Sharif’s brother Shahbaz, who is leading the PML-N’s election campaign, said hundreds of the party’s workers and supporters had been arrested in what he described as “naked” pre-poll rigging.

Pakistan’s military remains its most powerful institution, and has faced al­legations that it is pressuring the me­dia and politicians in a bid to manipu­late the polls against the PML-N.

It denies the accusations.

The election will pit the PML-N against its main rival, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, a party led by cricket star-turned-politician Imran Khan.

Since Sharif returned to London last month, where his wife is being treated for cancer, the PML-N has fallen into disarray and failed to mount an organ­ised campaign to rally the base ahead of the polls. Recent polling showed the PTI’s popularity steadily rising and closing the gap with the PML-N.

Analyst Zahid Hussain said the ex-leader was “fighting back for his politi­cal life”.

“Certainly, it would have been worse for the party’s prospects had he not come,” Hussain added.

The military has already warned of security threats and said it will deploy more than 370,000 soldiers on polling day. (AFP)