Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Campaigning is heating up ahead of Pakistan national elections despite election-related violence, and the spokesman for the political party of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said Sharif was being held in deplorable conditions awaiting the outcome of his appeal of a 10-year sentence for corruption.
Pervaiz Rashid, spokesman for the Pakistan Muslim League, visited Sharif in prison Thursday where he said the former premier's conditions are "deplorable." Sharif is being held amid increasing political tensions ahead of Pakistan's July 25 parliamentary vote.
Sharif "is being held in solitary confinement and his daughter, who is also being held at the same jail, was allowed to see him for the first time today" after six days, Rashid said. He gave no additional details.
Shahbaz Sharif, who now heads the Pakistan Muslim League party, claimed Wednesday that his brother was forced to sleep on floor of his cell his first night in jail.
Analysts say longtime politician and popular former cricket star Imran Khan enjoys the backing of the country's powerful military, which has ruled Pakistan directly or indirectly for most of its 71-year history. Khan aspires to becoming prime minister.
Rashid predicted, however, that the Muslim League party will win the vote if elections are not rigged.
Sharif, ousted from office by the country's Supreme Court last July, faces several trials on corruption charges.
In June, his daughter Maryam Nawaz was also sentenced to seven years in the same case stemming from documents leaked from a Panama law firm. Both were sentenced in absentia while in Britain, and were arrested when they returned home to serve their jails terms.
On Thursday, dozens of Sharif's supporters holding flowers gathered outside the Adiala Jail in the garrison city of Rawalpindi to see him. They chanted slogans in favor of Sharif, calling him a 'lion,' which is the election symbol of his party as well.
Sharif's party has alleged military intelligence forced some of its candidates to join Khan's party, a charge the army denies.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, son of slain former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, traveled to the eastern Punjab province to run the campaigns of his party's candidates. On Thursday, he told reporters that his party will do well if the playing field is level. Without naming anyone, Zardari alleged that Khan was being "facilitated" by the country's institutions.
The young Zardari is trying to revive support for his Pakistan People's Party, which once had a strong following in Punjab, the country's largest province. His party still enjoys an edge over other political parties in his home province of Sindh in the south.
The results of the vote in Punjab province will likely determine who forms the next government. Khan and Sharif's parties face tough competition from each other in Punjab, where Sharif's party ruled since 2008's elections.
Politicians have continued their election campaign despite last week's attacks on separate candidate rallies in which 153 people were killed.
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
