PHOTO: EXPRESS/FILE
RAWALPINDI: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Haneef Abbasi will have to wait a little longer to sleep on the mattress of his choice, which the Adiala Jail authorities returned from the gate of the prison.
Although, his application for a better class has been forwarded, it has yet to be approved and there is no chance that it could happen before weekend.
Therefore the jail staff returned a carload of supplies and a plush mattress Abbasi’s staff had brought for him soon after filing of the application for a better class.
In an application sent to IG Prisons Shahid Saleem Baig and the Home Ministry, counsel for Haneef Abbasi has demanded the jail authorities to shift the convict’s ward to better class. The former MNA of PML N was sentenced to life imprisonment on July 21 in connection with the Ephedrine Case.
Following the judgement, Abbasi was incarcerated in a high security barrack room of the Adiala Jail.
Sources added that Hanif Abbasi had filed for better class facilities at the jail after which his application was forwarded to IG Prisons Punjab Saleem Baig. The jail IG has also sent the application’s copy to home ministry, sources said, adding that the ministry would give final approval after a review.
As per rules, better class prisons can be allotted to parliamentarians who have Rs600,000 annual tax payments in their record. In addition, better class prisons may also be given to serving or retired gazetted officers of government.
ANF files plea
The Anti-Narcotics Force has decided that it would challenge the verdict which gave clean chit to seven other suspects booked in the Ephedrine Case, said Rawalpindi ANF prosecutor.
The special court however acquitted Abbasi’s brothers Basit Abbasi and Nazakat Abbasi, and other suspects including Ghazanfar, Nasir Khan, Siraj and Mohsin Khursheed. All of them have been released.
ANF prosecutor maintains that the force has solid evidence against all seven suspects released by the court.
Who will get the ticket?
With a major contender, Abbasi, disqualified and imprisoned, ECP had stopped elections on NA-60 Rawalpindi.
With Abbasi in jail, the party will have to decide who will contest the seat in by-elections. Sources said that manipulation was underway for PML-N ticket on NA-60 after Abbasi’s sentence was announced.
Barrister Daniyal Chaudhry, Hanif Abbasi’s wife, Dr Jamal Nasir and Sajjad Khan are in line for party ticket. In these candidates, Daniyal was unlikely to get a ride on party ticket. However, Mrs Abbasi, might be the choice of party leadership.
With additional reporting by Qaiser Sherazi
Published in The Express Tribune, July 28th, 2018.
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