Shehbaz attends NA session after NAB court grants transit remand

ISLAMABAD: Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif attended a session of the National Assembly on Monday, after a National Accountability Bureau (NAB) court granted a one-day transit remand of him.

Upon arrival at the assembly, the opposition leader was asked by a reporter if there was strictness inside the prison, to which, he replied saying it was a prison and there had to be strictness therein and one had to bear those hardships.

Asked if he was being provided medical facilities, Shehbaz told newsmen it was his right, however, lamented delay in provision of these facilities.

A police team had brought the former Punjab chief minister to Islamabad from Kot Lakhpat Jail, Lahore. His residence in the minister's enclave has been declared a sub-jail, where he will stay during the ongoing session of the assembly.

Earlier, Prosecutor Waris Janjua had submitted a request on behalf of the jail superintendent for Shehbaz's transit remand. The plea stated that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president has to be flown to Islamabad to attend the NA session scheduled for today.

Earlier, NA speaker Asad Qaiser issued orders for production of Shehbaz for a fourth time to allow him to attend the session.

Shehbaz, who was arrested on Oct 5 in connection to the Ashiana Iqbal Housing Scheme case, was sent to the Kot Lakhpat jail on judicial remand on Thursday after an accountability court in Lahore dismissed NAB's request for a further extension in his physical remand.