JUI-F requests permission from Punjab govt to meet jailed Nawaz

LAHORE: Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) lawmakers have requested Punjab’s home department to permit them to meet incarcerated former premier Nawaz Sharif on Thursday.

The request letter, dated October 2, was written by JUI-F Senator Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haidari, parliamentary leader Maulana Asadur Rehman and the parliamentary leader in the KP Assembly Muhammad Akram Khan Durrani.

The home department has not responded to the request yet.

If the permission is granted, then the party leaders will deliver JUI-F’s chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s “special message” to Nawaz besides inquiring about his health, a JUI-F spokesperson said.

Nawaz Sharif is currently imprisoned in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail, where he is serving his sentence after being convicted in Al-Azizia corruption case.

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman intends to carry out an anti-government movement in the month of October. He is seeking support from main opposition parties, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and president of PML-N Shehbaz Sharif have mutually decided to defer the proposed long-march towards Islamabad and have been hesitant to offer outright support to JUI-F.