Nawaz Sharif may be kept in Attock jail: report

ISLAMABAD: The VIP cells of Attock jail in Punjab province were being whitewashed and new curtains and furniture put in place to house former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his brother who plan to return back to Pakistan from forced exile on September 10, a news report has said.

The government will arrest the chief of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), and his brother, former Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif, from the Islamabad airport on September 10, when they are scheduled to return to Pakistan and keep them in Attock jail, the Daily Times newspaper reported on Thursday quoting Geo news sources.

According to the channel, the VIP cells of the jail were being cleaned and whitewashed for their 'upcoming residents'.

New curtains and furniture have been placed in the cells where the two brothers would be detained, the channel said on Wednesday.

It said the renovation of the VIP cells started whenthe Sharif brothers announced their date of return from their forced exile.

The two-time former premier plans to return to Pakistan on September 10 despite a reported request from Saudi authorities that the exiled leader not go back.

Sharif's elected government was ousted in a 1999 coup by General Pervez Musharraf. Sharif was exiled to Saudi Arabia in 2000 after a Pakistani court convicted and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

Although Musharraf has repeatedly said Sharif left Pakistan under a deal in which he agreed not to return home for 10 years, the Supreme Court last month ruled that he had an "inalienable right" to return home.