Meeting with Sharifs 'unilaterally cancelled' by jail authorities, says his legal team

Pakistan's Adiala Jail authorities today "unilaterally cancelled" a meeting between former premier Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam and son-in-law Capt (retd) Muhammad Safdar, and their lawyers, according to a media report.

The legal team, which includes Khwaja Harris, Saad Hashmi, Zafir Khan and Amjad Pervaiz, was trying to meet the Sharif family detained at Adiala Jail following their conviction in the Avenfield properties case on July 6.

Harris yesterday told the accountability judge that jail authorities were not giving him access to his client - Nawaz Sharif, Dawn reported.

After court proceedings, as per the legal team of Sharif family, the jail superintendent called Harris and permitted the legal team to meet with its clients, the paper said.

The jail authorities then, with the consent of the lawyers, fixed their meeting for 11 am on Thursday.

When the legal team reached Adiala Jail at 11 am, they were informed by the jail superintendent that the meeting had been cancelled. Subsequently, they returned without meeting their clients, the paper reported.

Citing Haris, the paper said that the "legal team had been requesting jail authorities since the day before to allow us to meet our clients in jail so that we can confer with them regarding their future strategy."