Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and MNA Rana Sanaullah, who was arrested by the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) on Monday, spent his first night in jail sleeping on the floor, a private media outlet has reported.
Rana was taken into custody by the ANF while on his way to Faisalabad for a party meeting. Being intercepted on the motorway by an ANF team in Sukheki, he was detained for allegedly possessing a huge stash of heroin.
With an anti-narcotics court sending the PML-N leader and other accused to prison on a 14-day judicial remand Tuesday, a news outlet has revealed how Sanaullah’s first night in jail went.
According to reports, the lawmaker spent the night sleeping on the floor of Barrack No. 6 at Lahore’s Camp Jail, where he was provided with just a single sheet to sleep on.
The PML-N leader was shifted to his cell after jail authorities emptied all neighbouring barracks, while the five other accused were kept in the old block of the prison.
Sanaullah was arrested days after a large-scale crackdown on drug peddlers in Punjab was launched. Latest reports claim the MNA would be given B-class facilities in jail.
Jail officials say B-class facilities include a newspaper, television, bed, table and chair, besides some other items.
Pakistani politicians are rather infamous for falling sick right
after they are sentenced to imprisonment, taken into custody for investigation or
even if summoned by a court.
While some think of the sudden ailment as “nothing but an
easy way out of the ordeal that could follow”, several others believe otherwise.
Here are five politicians who fell prey to an untimely, or
perhaps timely, sickness.
1. Pervez Musharraf
Soon after All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) chief and former
military ruler Pervez Musharraf was charged with treason, he underwent chest
and back pain. He was shifted to Combined Military Hospital (CMH), where he
spent months and failed to appear before the court.
Even though Musharraf’s name was put on the Exit Control List
(ECL), the Interior Ministry allowed him to leave the country for treatment
back in 2016 and he hasn’t returned since.
2. Nawaz Sharif
Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was advised to undergo a
heart surgery soon after the emergence of Panama Papers in April 2016 amid
calls for a probe into his offshore assets by the opposition.
Since the case started and his subsequent imprisonment last year, the ex-PM has time and again sought bail on medical grounds, even the permission to travel abroad for treatment, and has taken multiple trips to the hospital from jail.
3. Ishaq Dar
The former PML-N lawmaker tendered his resignation as the country’s finance minister after the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) initiated an inquiry into his assets back in 2017.
Dar fell ill, with his counsel requesting an exemption from the court. He later traveled to the United Kingdom (UK) and hasn’t returned since. The politician’s medical reports say he is severely ill; however, he has been spotted walking upright on London streets time and again.
4. Asif Ali Zardari
The former president’s little visit to the hospital after he
was taken into NAB custody last week, wasn’t the first of its kind. Earlier, he
had used his medical reports to fight a corruption case filed against him in a
British court.
Zardari had pleaded that he was diagnosed with a range of
psychiatric illnesses during his detention in jail. He, however, went on to
become the president of Pakistan in 2008.
The list doesn’t end here as several other political figures, including ex-petroleum minister Dr Asim Hussain and ex-information minister Sharjeel Memon, have also sought medical attention in times of trouble.
The Current asked people about what they think of all these untimely ailments and here is what they had to say:
