PTI chief languishes in prison where convicted militants are kept
Pakistan
The PTI chief joined other ex-prime ministers who had been arrested and jailed
ATTOCK (AP) — Pakistan’s former prime minister spent the night at a high-security prison after a court handed him a three-year jail sentence for corruption, a development that could end his future in politics.
The court ruled on Saturday that the PTI chairman, who was ousted in a no-confidence vote in April 2022 but remains the country’s leading opposition figure, had concealed assets after selling state gifts.
The prison sentence could bar him from politics under a law that prohibits people with a criminal conviction from holding or running for public office. He could also lose the chairmanship of the party he founded, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or PTI.
It’s the second time this year that the former prime minister has been detained, joining other former Pakistani prime ministers who had been arrested and incarcerated in different jails.
But his current residence at the Attock prison is a far cry from his custodial conditions in May when he was taken to a well-appointed guesthouse on a police compound in Islamabad under a Supreme Court order. He was then allowed visitors and meetings with party colleagues.
Attock prison, in eastern Punjab province, is notorious for its harsh conditions and its inmates include convicted militants.
Authorities have further tightened security around the prison, which already has armed guards in watchtowers, by erecting barriers and blocking roads to keep people away. They have also instructed locals not to allow media onto their roofs to stop photographs and videos from leaking.
PTI lawyer Shoaib Shaheen told The Associated Press that police at the prison refused entry to a legal team who went to see PTI chief. He said the party will file an appeal as there are “plenty of loopholes in the verdict.”
Critics say efforts to put the ex-premiere behind bars are politically motivated and have intensified ahead of elections due to be held later this year.
They argue that his popularity and a large support base, combined with his ability to mobilize massive crowds, pose a threat to the ruling coalition and its backers in Pakistan’s powerful military that has been the final arbiter of the country’s politics since independence from Britain in 1947.
In May, his arrest on corruption charges caused a wave of violent protests that swept the country. Pakistan’s Supreme Court days later ordered his release, saying his arrest was illegal.
THE HISTORICAL JAIL
According to local media, the cell where the PTI chief is kept has no air-conditioning facility but has a fan, bed and a washroom inside.
He is the first former prime minister who has been locked up in the Attock jail.
Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was put in Attock Fort in 1999 before he was sent to Jeddah on a 10-year exile after an agreement with General Pervez Musharraf.
The Attock jail and fort are separate premises located at a distance of about 20 kilometres from each other.
The fort was built at Attock Khurd during the reign of Mughal emperor Akbar in 1581-83 under the supervision of Khawaja Shamsuddin Khawafi to protect the passage of the river.
The fort is located on the bank of River Indus bordering the KP province. The entrance to the fort is from the Rawalpindi-Peshawar GT Road side.
On the other hand, the Attock jail is located in the heart of the city along the Rawalpindi-Peshawar railway track. It was constructed by the British rulers on 67 acres in 1905-06.
The British rulers used the prison to detain people mostly involved in mutiny. It is now considered a high security prison of the country where hardened under-trial prisoners are usually kept.
Former chief minister Punjab Shehbaz Sharif was kept in the Attock jail in 1999 after he was sentenced by an accountability court in Attock Fort in the famous MI-8 helicopter kickback case.
PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif’s son Hussain Nawaz, former chief minister KP Sardar Mehtab Ahmed Khan, ex-minister for communications Azam Khan and MQM leader Dr Farooq Sattar also remained imprisoned in the jail.
Earlier this year, PTI leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi was kept in the same jail.
