Ex-PM Sharif in custody as 132 die in Pakistan election violence

QUETTA, PAKISTAN — Disgraced former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was in custody yesterday, a day after the deadliest attacks in Pakistan's troubled election campaign killed more than 130 people, including a candidate.

In the southwestern province of Baluchistan, a suicide bomber killed 128 people Friday, including a politician running for a provincial legislature. Four others died in a strike in Pakistan's northwest, spreading panic in the country.

The attacks came hours before Sharif returned from London along with his daughter Maryam to face a 10-year prison sentence on corruption charges, anticorruption officials said. Maryam Sharif faces seven years in jail.

Mushahidullah Khan, a spokesman for Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League, said yesterday the ex-prime minister and his daughter were being held in Adiala Jail, located outside the capital of Islamabad. Sharif has been calling for supporters to vote for candidates from his party.

Khan said Sharif will appeal his conviction and apply for bail before the deadline expires on Monday. He still faces two additional corruption trials, both of which will be held inside the jail, said Khan. Security is being cited as the reason.

In the southern town of Mastung, candidate Siraj Raisani and 127 others died when a suicide bomber blew himself up amid scores of supporters who had gathered at a rally. Raisani was running for the election on the newly launched Baluchistan Awami Party ticket.