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Monday, November 29, 1999

Sharif better off in jail -- Pak Govt

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA  
ISLAMABAD, NOV 28: Authorities in Pakistan have dismissed allegations of deposed premier Nawaz Sharif that he was being illtreated in jail and rejected his demand for `A' class facilities.

Sharif's allegations of unhealthy atmosphere in jail are "untrue," Sindh Governor Air Marshal (retd) Azim Daudpota said on Saturday, accusing the ousted prime minister of speaking in "political language".

He told reporters in Hyderabad that Sharif's condition before his arrest was like a "pudding" but now "he should thank god on the reduction of his weight as otherwise he would have had a heart attack." "He is now looking like a handsome Kashmiri youth," English daily The News quoted Daudpota as saying.

Rejecting Sharif's demand for `A' class facilities in jail, the governor said he "was not an earning member of his family. He is not above the masses that he should be given `A' class facilities." Daudpota said he (Sharif) was getting the same facilities as other detainees, besides which his family members were allowed to meet him.

Interior Secretary of Sindh, Nisar Siddiqui, who accompanied Daudpota, said Sharif and others had been given `B' class facilities in jail according to the jail manual.

He said Sharif's relatives are allowed to bring food for him and that his female relatives and lawyers are allowed to meet him almost everyday. Sharif had earlier alleged that he was being kept in a small and dirty cell full of mosquitoes and that he and his co-accused were being mentally tortured.

His family members and leaders of his Pakistan Muslim League (PML) party have alleged that Sharif and other co-accused in the plane hijacking case have been given raw treatment in prison and that Sharif had lost nearly 30 pounds during his one and a half months of detention.

Sharif, his brother and former Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and five others are facing charges of treason, attempted murder and hijacking for their role in refusing permission to a PIA plane carrying Army Chief Gen Pervez Musharraf and 200 other passengers to land at Karachi airport on October 12 despite running short of fuel.

The deposed premier along with his entire family had been put under detention following a coup on the same day but was later handed over to Karachi police in connection with the plane hijacking case initiated on the basis of a fir filed by the army.

Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.


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