PML-N chief Shahbaz asks govt not to remove AC from Nawaz's cell

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief Shehbaz Sharif has asked the government to refrain from removing the air-conditioner from the prison cell of Nawaz Sharif as it will violate doctors' recommendations and adversely affect the former prime minister's already fragile health.

Sharif, 69, has been serving a seven-year prison term at the Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore since December 24, 2018 when an accountability court convicted him in one of the three corruption cases filed in the wake of the apex court's July 28, 2017 order in Panama Papers case.

Addressing a gathering of the Pakistani diaspora in the US last week, Prime Minister Imran Khan had said, "I am going to go back and make sure there is no air conditioning or no TV for Sharif. I know Maryam Bibi (Sharif's daughter) will make some noise, but I say to her, return the money. It's as simple as that."
"I am appalled at the callousness depicted by the Home Department for omitting this pivotal point about Sharif's medical condition while writing to the IG Prisons asking him to remove facilities accorded to prisoners under the guise of impartial treatment," he said and added that the blatant attempt at his life "shrouded in procedural vagueness reeks of political vendetta as the letter cites PM Khan's wishes as the motive of the said correspondence."