Nawaz Sharif returns to Kot Lakhpat jail after bail expires

LAHORE: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif returned to Kot Lakhpat prison on late Tuesday, following the expiry of his six-week bail in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption reference, ARY News reported.

Sharif, who was supposed to turn himself in to jail latest by 6:50 PM, came out of his residence at around 8:40 PM. Jail authorities, who were waiting outside his residence to collect him, had left by that time after wait of several hours.

Nawaz’s daughter Maryam and nephew Hamza Shehbaz, along with Mohammad Zubair, Talal Chaudhry and other party leaders, accompanied the former prime minister to jail.

Earlier in the evening, jail authorities reached at Jati Umra to apprehend Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif as he himself did not surrender to jail officials following the expiry of his six-week bail in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption reference.

The sources said that PML-N planned to use the event as a political show.

PML-N supremo was released from the jail on March 27 after the Supreme Court suspended his sentence in the Al-Azizia graft reference and granted him bail for medical treatment for six weeks.

Last week, the apex court had rejected a petition filed by Sharif seeking an extension in the bail.

A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Asif Saeed Khosa heard the case. “We gave six-week bail for treatment, but the time was utilised in medical tests only”, the CJP remarked.