Staff Reporter
PML-N Spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb on Wednesday blasted the government for not releasing the imprisoned party president and his son after the demise of Begum Shamim Akhtar and linking the move to the arrival of her body from London.
“It is an unfortunate act that Shehbaz Sharif and Hamza Shehbaz Sharif have not been released so far,” she said in her tweets and added that a routine legal job had been made complicated and slow intentionally. Marriyum said linking their release to the arrival of the body was a manifestation of extreme apathy. “The government has created a new record of its narrow-mindedness by doing politics even on the occasion of grief,” she added.
Earlier, the Punjab cabinet on Tuesday approved the move to release Shehbaz and Hamza on parole for five days after facing criticism from the main opposition party over the issue. However, they would be released from the Kot Lakhpat prison only after the body of Begum Shamim Akhtar – the deceased mother of PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif and Shehbaz – arrived from London where she breathed her last on Sunday.
The move came after Marriyum stated that the PTI the government was continuing with the practice of political victimisation as the two imprisoned party leaders had not been released on parole despite the passage of two days. On Sunday, the PML-N had immediately submitted an application to avail the parole facility for Shehbaz and Hamza after receiving the news about her demise around noon according to the Pakistan Standard Time. It is worth recalling that Nawaz and Shehbaz were in forced exile when their father Mian Sharif passed away in Saudi Arabia. However, they could not accompany his body and attend his funeral in Lahore as Pervez Musharraf was still in power. Years later, Nawaz lost his wife Begum Kalsoom Nawaz as he was in prison along with his daughter Maryam Nawaz when she lost her battle against cancer in London. Maryam in a recent TV interview has made it clear that she told his father not to return to the country as the incumbent government was thirsty of his blood. Thus, Nawaz would not be able to attend the funeral of his mother too.
