Begum Kulsoom laid to rest at Jati Umra

LAHORE: Late Begum Kulsoom Nawaz – wife of three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif – was laid to rest in her ancestral graveyard at Jati Umra after tens of thousands of grieving PML-N workers attended her funeral prayers on Friday.

The flight carrying Begum Kulsoom’s body arrived at Lahore's Allama Iqbal International Airport in the wee hours on Friday, which was later shifted to Jati Umra, Nawaz’s home.

Over a dozen members of Sharif family – including Shahbaz Sharif, Asma Nawaz, sons of Hussain Nawaz and other relatives – reached Pakistan along with the casket via PIA flight PK-758. Nawaz's sons Hassan and Hussain couldn’t attend the last rituals of their mother in Pakistan owing to legal complications. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu along with his country’s ambassador to Pakistan called on Nawaz at Jati Umra and offered condolence on the sad demise of Begum Kulsoom.

A special security plan had been chalked out ahead of funeral to avert any untoward incident. Earlier, Nawaz along with other PML-N leaders offered the Friday prayers led by Maulana Tariq Jamil at the Sharif Medical City Mosque.

Tens of thousands of PML-N enthusiasts had already gathered at the Sharif Medical City Ground where the funeral prayers were scheduled to be held. The body of the deceased was brought to the Sharif Medical City’s ground and owing to the fact that it was packed beyond capacity, it was deemed best to conduct the Namaz-e-Janaza without taking the body out of the ambulance in which it was brought to the site. PML-Q president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi attended the funeral prayers. Senator Kamil Ali Agha, Mian Imran Masood, Mian Munir, Chaudhry Shafay Hussain Chaudhry Salik Hussain accompanied them.

A PTI delegation led by Punjab Governor Chaudhry Sarwar also attended the Namaz-e-Janaza. National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser, Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan and provincial ministers Mehmood-ul-Rasheed, Aslam Iqbal and Fayyaz-ul-Hassan Chauhan were part of the delegation.

Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, Azad Kashmir President Sardar Masood Khan and Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider, PPP leaders Khursheed Shah, Qamar Zaman Kaira and Raja Pervaiz Ashraf as well as Dr Farooq Sattar and Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui of MQM-P were also present on the occasion.

In addition to these, a large number of notables including media fraternity, business community, legal fraternity and people from all other walks of life attended the funeral.

Later, the funeral procession was set off on its final course to the graveyard. Capt Safdar sat on the front seat of the ambulance by the side of driver while Nawaz drove a car himself back to Jati Umra. A large number of people surrounded the car and lined on both sides of the road, which resulted in very slow movement of the vehicles. Begum Kulsoom was laid to rest at around 8 pm next to the resting place of her father-in-law Mian Sharif and brother-in-law Abbas Sharif. Her Qul will be held at Jati Umra on Sunday between Asr and Maghrib prayers.