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LAHORE, Pakistan – Former disempowered Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was in custody on Saturday, the day after the deadliest attacks in the Pakistani election campaign, which left more than 130 dead, including one candidate.
In Baluchistan Province A suicide bomber killed 128 people on Friday, including a politician candidate for a provincial legislature. Four others died in a strike in northwestern Pakistan, spreading panic in the country.
The attacks arrived a few hours before Sharif returned from London with his daughter Maryam to face a 10-year prison sentence. . Maryam Sharif faces seven years in prison.
He was detained to serve his sentence, but he should appeal and apply for bail. It was not clear when his call would be filed but he has until Monday.
In the southern city of Mastung, candidate Siraj Raisani and 127 others died when a suicide bomber blew himself up among dozens of supporters who had gathered at
The Islamic State Group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement issued by his Aamaq news agency
The group gave no reason for the bombing that killed Raisani, party candidate Baluchistan Awami.
Raisani is the brother of the former chief minister of Baluchistan, Aslam Raisani. Interior Minister, Agha Umar Bungalzai, told The Associated Press that 300 people had been injured in the attack on Friday.
The US State Department strongly condemned this week's attacks on political candidates and their supporters in Pakistan. cowardly attempts to deprive the Pakistani people of their democratic rights, "he added." We will continue to support the people of Pakistan and all of South Asia in their fight against terrorism. "
Meanwhile, Sharif arrived from London in Lahore, where he was visiting his sick wife in a Pakistani court, and Sharif's son-in-law is currently serving a one-year prison sentence for the same charge, which stems from the purchase of luxury apartments in Britain which, according to the court, were illegally purchased.
Before his return, police swept Lahore, arresting dozens of Islamist party workers Sharif to prevent them from greeting him at the airport.
Barbed wire was strung on some roads leading to Lahore airport. Friday and barricades were positioned at the roadside, ready to close the main boulevards if the crowds began to gather.
In a video message on Friday, he reportedly boarded his plane en route to Pakistan, Sharif said he was coming back knowing he would be taken directly to jail.
Sharif was banned from participating in politics, and his brother Shahbaz Sharif now heads his Muslim League of Pakistan and is campaigning for reelection on July 25.
In a televised call to London supporters earlier this week, Sharif said he was not afraid of prison and asked people to vote for his party. He also took the opportunity to criticize again the powerful Pakistani army, which has ruled the country directly or indirectly for most of its 71-year history, claiming that Pakistan now has a "state of above the state ". Sharif criticized the involvement of the army in civil affairs and its efforts in the fight against extremists.
Pakistani and international defense groups accused the military of seeking to maintain their influence in Pakistani politics by keeping Sharif out of power. The army denied the accusations saying that their badistance in carrying out elections had been requested by the Pakistan Election Commission. The army will deploy 350,000 security guards to the country's polling stations on election day.
Friday's attacks were highlighted, the first having killed four people in the north-west near the election rally of a politician of an Islamist party.
The blast targeted candidate Akram Khan Durrani, who escaped unharmed and injured 20 people, said local police chief Rashid Khan.
Durrani comes to the July 25 vote against former MP Imran Khan. He is candidate of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, an electoral alliance of radical religious groups
The attacks occurred a few days after a kamikaze sent by the Pakistani Taliban killed the secular politician Haroon Ahmed Bilour and 20 others at his gathering
Sattar reported from Quetta, Pakistan, and the writers of the Associated Press Riaz Khan in Peshawar and Munir Ahmed and Kathy Gannon in Islamabad contributed to this report.
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