LAHORE: Opposition Leader in National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif visited former prime minister and his elder brother Nawaz Sharif in Kot Lakhpat jail here on Tuesday.

Meeting between the two continued for around two hours. Both had lunch together.

A close aide of the opposition leader says the incarcerated ex-prime minister asked his younger brother, who is also president of the PML-N, to mobilise the party cadre and keep a close eye on the changing national political landscape.

The opposition leader was quoted as apprising his elder brother about his meetings with Maryam Nawaz and Hamza Shahbaz, both in the custody of the National Accountability Bureau in various cases.

Maryam was a regular visitor to her father, serving seven-year jail term in a corruption case until her detention in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case. In an unprecedented move in the legal history, she was taken into custody from the jail premises when she was in a meeting with her father.

Mr Shahbaz along with retired Captain Muhammad Safdar and other members of the house of Sharifs had visited Maryam and Hamza on the first day of Eid (Monday) at NAB’s Lahore offices.

The meeting was arranged at the lawn of the NAB office where the accused and their visitors were offered tea.

A NAB official says for Hamza and Maryam, the bureau had specially got prepared sheer khurma and other traditional Eid dishes.

The official says that Hamza along with other under-trial accused had also been offered the opportunity to offer Eid prayers in congregation, while NAB Director-General Saleem Shehzad arranged special dishes for them.

Published in Dawn, August 14th, 2019