Hundreds attend funeral prayers of Kulsoom Nawaz in London

london / lahore — Hundreds of people attended the funeral prayers of Begum Kulsoom Nawaz — the wife of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif — at a London mosque on Thursday, as legal formalities were completed to take her body to Pakistan for burial.

The funeral prayers at London’s Regent Park mosque were attended by her sons Hassan and Hussain, brother-in-law Shahbaz Sharif, former ministers Chaudhry Nisar and Ishaq Dar among others.

Kulsoom died on Tuesday in a London hospital after a long battle with cancer. She was 68. She would be buried on Friday in the Jati Umra Lahore residence of the Sharif family. Her body was scheduled to be flown back to Pakistan on Thursday night on a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight for Lahore, Geo TV reported.

Citing Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb, the channel said the funeral prayers of the former first lady will be offered on Friday at the Sharif Medical City in Jati Umra at 5pm. Sharif ’s sons, Hassan and Hussain, will not travel to Pakistan for their mother’s funeral. Both have been declared absconder by an accountability court in the corruption cases.

Meanwhile, legal formalities have been completed and the family has received a death certificate issued by the Harley Street Clinic, the channel said. They have also received the “out-of-England” letter from the coroner’s court, paving the way for the departure of her body for Lahore.

In Lahore, Sharif on Thursday visited the Sharif Medical City to oversee arrangements for his deceased wife’s last rites. He was accompanied by his son-in-law Safdar, grandson Junaid Safdar, and nephew Salman Shahbaz. —