Daily Times

LAHORE: The Rasm-e-Qul for former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s wife Kulsoom Nawaz will be offered today (Sunday) from Asr to Maghrib.

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and former president Asif Ali Zardari will also meet former PM Nawaz Sharif along with a party delegation to offer condolences on his wife’s demise.

The former first lady was laid to rest on Friday in Jati Umra, next to the resting place of her father-in-law Mian Sharif and brother-in-law Abbas Sharif.

Her funeral prayers, led by religious scholar Maulana Tariq Jamil, were offered at Sharif Medical City, Raiwind.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) supremo, his son-in-law Captain (r) Safdar along with party leaders and thousands of supporters attended the funeral. Delegations from other political parties including Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), PPP, Muttahida Qaumi Movement and Pak Sarzameen Party were also in attendance.

Another funeral, led by Imam Sheikh Khalifa Ezzat was held in London’s Regent Park Mosque on Thursday.

Family members and prominent political figures including Hussain Nawaz, Hassan Nawaz, former Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif, former finance minister Ishaq Dar and Chaudhry Nisar had attended the last rituals of former first lady.

Kulsoom Nawaz died at the age of 68, after losing a long battle with cancer at London’s Harley Street Clinic on Tuesday.

Kulsoom was born in 1950 in Lahore to a Kashmiri family. She attended Islamia College and graduated from Forman Christian College in Lahore. She also received a Master’s degree in Urdu from the Punjab University in 1970.

She married Nawaz Sharif in 1971 and served as the president of PML-N from 1999 to 2002. Kulsoom had remained the first lady of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms from 1990-1993, 1997-1999 and 2013-2017.

After the disqualification of Nawaz Sharif from Supreme Court last year, Kulsoom was given party ticket to contest by-election from NA-120 while she was under treatment in London. Kulsoom was elected to Lahore’s NA-120 constituency in a by-poll against Dr Yasmin Rashid of PTI among other candidates. However, she was unable to return due to her illness.

Her election campaign was run by her daughter Maryam Nawaz.

Kulsoom was diagnosed with lymphoma last year, barely a month after Nawaz Sharif was removed from office by the SC, which ordered him to face trial in an anti-corruption court. PML-N leaders and family members have been arriving at their residence to extend condolences.

Published in Daily Times, September 16^th 2018.